


The Final Soul

by KJTheAnarchist



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Depression, F/M, Female Frisk (Undertale), Implied/Referenced Suicide, Multi, Post-Undertale Neutral Route, Post-Undertale Neutral Route - King Papyrus Ending, Reader Is Not Frisk (Undertale), Sans (Undertale) Has PTSD - Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Sans (Undertale) Remembers Resets, Self-Sacrifice, Undertell (Undertale AU), not being finished
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-07
Updated: 2019-02-07
Packaged: 2019-10-23 18:02:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 31,385
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17688227
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KJTheAnarchist/pseuds/KJTheAnarchist
Summary: You jumped down to free them. But you didn't expect to get attached. (Unfinished)





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Short chapters!

He sat her on his bed, wrapping his thick fleece blanket around her shoulders. It was better that she was here, and not with his brother. It wasn't that she was a threat, but rather that the previous Human was. He found it hard to trust or believe anything anymore, especially Humans, and for good reason. Yet, she wasn't aware of his eternal struggle. He had yet to tell her of the conflictions. This was his chance.

Sans sank into the mattress beside her, taking this chance to lie down. She laid down beside him, looking up at the ceiling, not saying much. He moved her head, so it would be resting on his shoulder, an uncomfortable yet comforting gesture on his part. If only he wasn't a literal pile of walking bones. She squirmed a little bit, trying not to disturb him too much. He was already very gracious in allowing her to sleep in a bed, let alone his house at all.

Sans gripped his shirt before turning his skull toward her, as if he was looking at her. Yet, his eyes remained locked on the ceiling above him. She looked at him, knowing that he wanted to say something but wasn't sure how to start. She gently grabbed his hand, the one that was gripping his own shirt. His grip loosened at her warm touch. Sans let out a long sigh before grinning at her.

"I guess it's time that I actually told you what happened, huh?" he said, "About why I've tried to kill you multiple times, and why Papyrus is so nervous around you?"

She nodded.

Sans sighed again, moving to sit up, even if he had just laid down. He rested his left hand on his skull, looking physically tired. The discoloration underneath his eyes suggested he hadn't slept very well for a while. She felt a pang of guilt for him for a second before it disappeared. She knew it probably wasn't her fault. She didn't want him getting pissed with her over apologizing again. It had happened enough as it is.

"Well, hun," he chuckled, "The kid that fell before you was just like you. Very pacifistic at first. They loved everyone, made friends everywhere. Then, they Reset our little World. You know about the timelines Resetting, don't you?"

She nodded, again.

"The kid killed everyone, that second time." Sans' voice lost that warm tone in it, "I watched them kill Papyrus, and Undyne, Alphys, Mettaton, and eventually they killed me. None of us were a match for them. There's no stopping a psychopathic manipulator once their path is set."

Sans closed his eye sockets, gritting his teeth together. She had never seen his teeth move and had never even considered if he could move them until that exact moment. He inhaled deeply, knowing he had to continue his little story now that he had started.

"Then, I woke up in my bed, the kid had Reset, once more," he continued, "They had become peaceful, again. They didn't kill anyone, at least, that I knew of. They got us out of the Underground, onto the surface. We were up there for almost a year, and the kid Reset again."

It looked as if he was going to cry. She wondered if he could.

"The last run was the worst."

He had to stop talking. He couldn't breathe right. She could tell by the look on his face that he was picture everything. She sat up and grabbed his right hand. His fingers closed around hers, almost squeezing them too hard. He opened his eye sockets finally, showing the dark abyss behind them. His pupils were gone, and he looked cold, dead.

"They killed everyone in the ruins," he said, "That's why it was so empty when you Fell. They killed everyone on the path to Snowdin but spared the town itself. They left Papyrus to die. If I hadn't been around, he would have, I imagine. He was on the brink. They wiped out Waterfall – Undyne with them. Alphys was killed, Mettaton was put into disrepair. Asgore was killed. I- I couldn't fight them. I was too scared. They took Asgore's Soul and went through the Barrier, leaving us Underground, again."

She wrapped her arms around his shoulders, pulling his skull against her shoulder. He didn't react. He didn't move. She wasn't entirely sure he was even present.

"Sans...?"

His hand finally reached up and gripped her arm, rather harshly. When she looked to his face, she found that his eye had begun to glow a yellowish-blue color, the other still the dark abyss it was before.

"I thought they would've Reset by now." He breathed, "I had given them two years, and they still haven't. Then, you Fell. They're not Resetting, are they? Huh, ___?"

She shook in fright, but still didn't move.

"We're stuck down here, forever. Everyone's given up hope. No one wants to take on the throne, no one wants to hunt Humans. No one wants to be alive, anymore. There's no hope, anymore."


	2. Curiosity

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story was written a while ago, so the chapters are short.   
> They might not make too much sense, either.

Everywhere there were signs – "Do not near Mt. Ebbot." They were on every street corner, every bar window, and every bus station. They were hung up on lamp posts and delivered in mailboxes. The number of signs was excruciatingly high, and for no reason. There was no reason for there to be so many signs, especially because there was no true threat of the "monster menace" breeching the Barrier and invading the above world. While the kid that had lived through the Underground was full of panic, few others were.

Frisk had come from the Underground, wielding tales of skeletons breaking their bones, fish people skinning them, giant goat monsters stabbing them. She had told everyone that the monsters were waiting for one last human to fall down so they could be free from their prison. Those who knew the legends of the War, knew that Frisk wasn't lying, but still, they didn't take her seriously. She was denied and hated. Why would monsters even want to leave? If she, an eleven-year-old child could make it through the Underground without dying, then stronger humans could handle the monsters.

Still, more and more people were becoming afraid of the mountain. School trips into the surrounding forest were cancelled. Any roads that bypassed the mountain were closed. Some of the police force even thought they should guard any and all pathways to the mountain. New alarms were put into place to help prevent the city from being attacked by monsters, and no child was allowed out after dark, anymore, unless escorted by an adult. It was ludicrous.

___ wasn't quite a stickler for the rules, but she knew that they were important. Still, she couldn't help but linger out after dark, trying to get a glimpse of the mountain in the distance. She was curious about it. There were living beings living under it, yet no one seemed to care? Where was the love, where as the compassion? Part of her told her that it was just a lie, something that Frisk had made up to get attention. But, ___ knew it couldn't have been a lie. She was one of the first people to see Frisk once she got to the surface through the Barrier. Her and her three brothers were playing soccer in a nearby field when Frisk had limped into the area, covered in her own blood and some dusty substance.

___ could remember it as if it were yesterday. The small girl was wearing nothing but a heart-shaped locket and held nothing but a knife. Yet, she had gotten through the underground caverns, alive. ___ was the one that stayed with Frisk while her brothers went to call the ambulances. ___ was the first to hear of the monsters under the ground, under the mountain. Frisk begged her to tell the masses if she didn't survive (and the child really believed that she would die).

___ could still feel the dusty particles on her hands, even 2 years later. Frisk had smelt of tea and buttercups, but also soot and blood. Frisk had survived. After two months of intense care and almost constant media coverage, the world knew that there were monsters living beneath Mt. Ebbot, waiting to be freed. Even now, Frisk remained in the hospital, even two years later. 

The (h/c)-haired girl knew that Frisk had to have killed quite a few of them. How many could there be left? Were they suffering? She hated to be worried about monsters that had nearly killed a child, but, they were still living things.

Her rebelling began with her staying out on the streets passed dark. It was amusing avoiding those patrolling. She did it with ease. Not that they were truly looking to catch anyone, most people didn't believe in the monsters, even with a witness like Frisk.

Her second act of rebellion was standing at the foot the mountain. More than once she had been there, and tried to find her own way in. She knew it was stupid, but she was drawn to the caverns.

Her third was talking about the monsters and asking those few that knew of the war about them. She was curious, too curious. More than once she had been put on house arrest for endangerment of human kind. ___ had even snuck into Frisk's hospital room to talk to her in the night, only ever receiving warnings about the Underground. On her most recent visit, however, Frisk was silent until the very end.

___ had taken her heart-shaped necklace. She wasn't sure what caused her to do that. But, she would return it later.

___ wanted to go to the Underground.

Frisk was unaware that ___ had taken the amulet but seeing as the child wanted nothing to do with it, she didn't even search. Still, yesterday was the last time ___ visited Frisk. She remembered sitting in the chair beside the hospital bed, saying nothing much. Frisk remained silent, not even signing. ___ didn't care too much. The child was getting sick of her. The (h/c)-head couldn't blame her, honestly.

Yet, ___ still felt compelled to tell Frisk that she was going to the Underground, that she was going to fall down. The younger girl, whom had remained silent until that very moment, looked up to her with an intense facial express – one full of hatred and desire.

Frisk was unafraid to speak now, "If you're going down there, again, you have to kill them," she said, "You have to kill the rest of the monsters down there, ___, you can't let them kill you. Kill them all."

It was the strangest thing. ___ had said nothing after that to Frisk, but the young girl had told her to get her knife back from the field that she had left it in – the field that ___ had found her in. The (h/c)-haired girl left without saying a thing, without accepting the terms or promising to kill the monsters.

Instead, she went right to the field that Frisk had been in. There was no plausible way the knife should have stood out after two years and three months, but she still found it easily, as if it were waiting for her. Its handle stuck out from the ground, daring her to pluck it from the earth, to take it with her to the Underground. ___ knew it would be stupid to go down without any sort of weapon, but did she really want the bloodstained knife that Frisk had killed so many monsters with?

It was bad enough she stole the locket that Frisk wore, but now she was going to take the knife down there too? It was as if she was returning to the crime scene with both pieces of evidence. What if the monsters recognized both items and killed her just because of them?

Still, she took the knife with her.

___ was unsure why it was so quiet. Usually there were guards around the forest, yet there were none that she saw. They were usually more careful than this. What was going on? Though, her mind didn't linger on it. This may be her only chance to slip into the mountain without being noticed.

This was her chance to see what Frisk had caused down below.


	3. Flowey

The drop into the Underground was deeper than she expected. ___ hadn't even realized there was going to be a cavern, let alone no way down other than falling. She should have been more careful, walking around said place. The last thing she remembered properly was tripping over something in the dark. Then, darkness afterwards. She imagined that she had fallen into the cavern, but it was still dark when she finally awoke.

___ laid on the cold ground, eyes barely focused on anything. There was no sunlight, no warmth. She was freezing, wherever she laid. At least, it did not smell bad. In fact, the room smelt of buttercups and the thick scent of iron. Her body was sore, and she could barely move without wincing in pain. For a while, ___ decided to just lay there. Hopefully, nothing would come of it, as she really needed to rest and figure her situation out.

The flowers around her were warm, brighter than the darkness of the cavern. Though it was dark, she noticed there were streams of moonlight coming down from the cave entrance. ___ dug her fingers into the buttercups, inhaling the scent they gave off, trying to scare away the scent of iron that belonged to her own red blood.

Eventually, it dawned on ___ that this cavern could be filled with monsters, especially some that might want to kill her. She knew just from that thought that she couldn't linger in one place too long. The (h/c)-haired girl forced herself from the ground, trying to look for the way out. It was extremely dark, and she knew it would be difficult to maneuver around without any light. She found the cave wall, feeling along its edges until she came across two pillars. ___ figured this was the official entrance to the Underground.

She leaned against the wall for support as she entered the pillars. Who knows where they would lead her?

___ struggled along, feeling her way on the wall. She wondered how many cuts she would receive on her hands from the stone walls. As she walked through the dark, she finally saw spot of dull light – probably due to the moon. In the spot of light was a lone buttercup, its floral face facing the other way. It was larger than the ones that she had fallen on.

Instead of sticking around to observe it, ___ decided she would just walk around. However, as she neared the flower, its head popped up. It didn't turn to face her like she was expecting, but it made a growling noise.

"What?" it barked, "Are you back to finish off the rest of us? Didn't you get your happy ending, Frisk?"

___ stood warily, her right arm crossed over her abdomen due to the pain she began to feel there. She didn't know what to expect of monsters, but a talking flower was certainly not one. As she inhaled, she nearly choked on the air. The air below the surface was thicker and harder to breathe. ___ almost regrets falling down, now. The Flower turned toward her, a scowl on its face. However, once it laid eyes on her, it froze.

"You- you're not Frisk."

She shrugged, "No, I'm not that dirty monster killer," she replied, "Frisk is in a hospital, she can't come back here ever again, I promise you."

"But who's to say you won't kill the rest of us?"

___ took a step toward the flower, "That's what Frisk wants," she admitted, "That's why I have this knife, and why I have this locket."

The (h/c)-haired girl pulled the knife out of her belt, holding it by the blade to show the flower that she meant no harm to it. Still, the flower looked fearful. ___ took another step forward, hesitating with the flower. It looked as if it wanted to be anywhere but there.

"Don't come closer!" it warned.

"I'm not here to hurt you," she said quickly, "I'm here to free you all."

It looked at her with tearful eyes, terrified. ___ felt terrible that she was causing this flower monster fear. She was making it cry. She bent down, placing the knife on the ground. Once that was done, she kicked it across the stone ground. The knife clattered to a stop on some stones, about a foot away from the flower, and six from ___. It stared at the knife, trembling in its roots. After a second, twisted vines sprouted from the ground, wrapping around the knife, and disappearing with it.

The flower returned to looking at her, "Why do you wanna save us?" he asked, "What good will you get from it? Frisk realized that we're worth nothing and took it upon themself to destroy us. Why won't you do the same?"

___ sunk to her knees, staring at the flower, a patient smile on her face. It stared at her suspiciously, as if waiting for her to change her mind and snap.

"What's your name?" she asked, "My name is ___."

The flower looked away from her, grumbling his name in response, "Flowey, my name is Flowey."

"It's nice to meet you, Flowey."

___ leaned against the cave wall, having a hard time staying awake. She was in a lot of pain, and just sitting there talking to Flowey did nothing to stave off the pain. Her right hand felt her abdomen, where she could feel sticky blood. Her left shoulder was damaged too, she believed. It hurt too much to move, so she let that rest at her side. ___ had ignored the blood dripping down her face before – or rather, she didn't quite notice it, yet. But now, she could feel the thick, red liquid draining down her face.

As far as she knew, the sun was beginning to rise over the mountain peaks. The light in the cavern, while not improving much, had begun to brighten more than it had before. Flowey turned to look at her again, as if to say something. She could almost make out all the details on Flowey's face and in the area. As he looked at her, though, his eyes widened.

"You really are an idiot, aren'tcha?" he asked, "You've been bleeding this whole time, yet you still sit there all nice with me. I can't understand that. Oh, shit-"

___ toppled over, her face hitting the cold stone. Flowey watched her collapse, unmoving. He finally called her name, extending vines to set her up straight. Her eyes were closed, and her head was unable to stay up on its own. Though Flowey wasn't a normally compassionate monster, he felt that with all the pain he and the other monsters went through in the last two years.

Using his vines, he weaved his way up her body, and gained control over it. Vines wrapped around her legs, arms, torso, keeping her stable in his grasp. Using his own strength, he forced her body onto her feet. Flowey nervous seated himself on her shoulder, unsure how well this was going to work, but it was his only option. His vines would act as a stabilizer, so he could move her body. He forced one of her feet forward, trembling as he did so.

Soon, the two of them were walking along the cavern, which soon opened into the Ruins. Flowey knew there was no one here. Frisk had wiped them all out. The monsters that once called the Ruins home were all piles of dust. Still, as they walked through, the dust stirred a little. Flowey was consciously aware of the movement but thought it just to be wind. A bad choice, he knew.

As he activated puzzles and forced his way through the Ruins, did he realize that ___'s Soul was harmonizing in the area. He felt as if he had to get her out of there as soon as possible, lest something were to happen.


	4. Ruined Home

Where was I?

___ could feel movement. Was she sleep walking? She wondered. Eventually, she gathered enough courage to open her eyes. She was laying down in a bed. Was she back home? Did she dream it all?

___ pulled the blanket tighter around her shoulders, trying to ignore the dull throbbing sensation in her head. She would rather sleep than suffer. Still, as she pulled the blanket, the blanket pulled back. She was too weak to fight the opposite tug. Instead, her drowsy eyes stared at the ceiling, wondering why it was patterned. She couldn't remember what her own bedroom ceiling looked like. At least the blanket was warm, she appreciated that.

"Are you awake or not?"

The high-pitched voice was enough to snap her out of her delusion. It didn't belong to anyone in her family. Her brothers were all in their early twenties or late teenage years. Her mom had moved out when Frisk told them all of monsters, and her dad never came into her room. There was no way this voice could belong to anyone she knew. ___ turned her head slightly, quivering as she looked around the room. It definitely wasn't hers. There were toys and kid-sized shoes scattered around the floor. The only thing that looked out of place was the footsteps of dirt, or maybe it was dust?

She brought her arm up to her face or tried to. Her left arm was tied against her torso, to keep her from straining it, no doubt. She could feel the bandage wrapped tightly around her head, too. ___ wondered if Flowey had brought her someplace where there was help. She knew there had to be other monsters somewhere in the cavern, and this house just proved her right.

"HELLO?"

The voice shouted at ___, causing her to look around again. Flowey was wrapped around the posts of the bed she was on, glaring at her. His vines were gathered all around the bed, she realized. She could feel a few of them weaved around her legs. She wondered how the flower had even brought her here. He didn't have a body to carry her.

"H-how did I get here?"

Her voice was dull and hoarse. ___ wondered how long she was asleep for. She sat up, feeling her abdomen to see if she was still bleeding. It seemed there was a bandage enveloped around her abdomen as well. Whoever had helped her was very thorough.

"I brought you here, stupid," Flowey huffed, "You're heavier than you look, fat-ass. I should've just left you there to rot."

___ gently brushed her hair away from her face, finding it matted and gross from her own blood. She knew she had to wash it.

"Thank you, but...who bandaged me, then?" she asked, "You don't exactly have hands, Flowey."

The flower shook his head violently before getting closer to her face. He seemed angry, now. ___ made a mental note not to comment on Flowey's lack of appendages in the future, as he seemed to be a little salty over it.

"I did it, IDIOT." He grumbled, "I'm capable of putting bandages on filthy humans like YOU."

___ wasn't sure she liked Flowey very much. He was a bully in his words but a helpful monster when need be. She pushed the blanket off her, sliding her legs off the mattress. She realized that her shoes where destroyed. They seemed to have been shredded, and she had no clue as to what could have happened. ___ kicked them off, standing up onto her bare feet. Hopefully, there would be a pair of shoes at least close to her size in this room.

Flowey watched her dig around in the bin full of children shoes, just trying to find one pair. He noticed that she seemed to like it here. She wasn't panicking or seeking a way out. All she wanted was some shoes.

"Look," Flowey gained her attention, "You go to the bathroom and wash up, and I'll bring you things to wear. Okay? There's plenty in this home."

"That's okay-"

Flowey hissed at her, "If you want to stand a chance down here, you have to take my advice, human," he deadpanned, "Go get washed up. There's no one around but me, so take your time."

The bathroom looked like it hadn't been used in forever. ___ supposed that it would still do its job. She found washrags in the cabinets and had set to work on washing the blood out of her hair and off her body. She removed the bandages that Flowey had taken the time to do up for her. It seemed that the wounds on her abdomen were nearly healed, but her shoulder and head were still too rough to consider any major travelling.

Instead of washing all her hair, ___ decided to trim a portion of it to save time. Her hair had been longer before, but now it was a comfortable shoulder length. Hopefully, it would be safer for her to wear it this way down in the Underground. Not to mention, it was easier to maintain. Once ___ had cleaned up, she found more gauze in the cabinets and re-bandaged her head, abdomen, and shoulder.

Flowey was right about her needing new clothes, though. Her sweatshirt was permanently stained by her blood and buttercup pollen. When she opened the door, she found a new shirt and sweater, as well as a pair of shoes. ___ sighed, swearing she would thank Flowey thoroughly when she was done getting ready.

She pulled the new shirt on, buttoning it up as quickly as she could. It was a nice, brown dress shirt. It wasn't warm by itself, but with the solid black sweater that Flowey had also given her, she would be fine. ___ decided to just wear the dress shirt for now, but if needed, she could pull the sweat on. The shoes were like Converse, something she could appreciate. Canvas shoes were very comfortable and easy to walk around in.

Once she was dressed, ___ decided to take a few things from the cabinet. Since there weren't any monsters around beside her and Flowey (she had assumed this house belonged to the flower), she felt safe in taking what she wanted. ___ took a pair of scissors, rubbing alcohol, and more gauze. God knows she'd need it. She carried her new-found items back into the room she had been in before. Flowey was still there, except he had found a place to plant himself. He sat in a striped terracotta plant pot, as if waiting for her to come back.

When she plopped the stuff on the bed, he turned to look at her. ___ started digging around in the wardrobe for a backpack, to which she found relatively quick. She shoved her materials inside.

"Good, you're back," he said, "I've decided that I'm coming with you."

___ sent him a look, "Why would you want to do that?"

Flowey's face seemed to turn a darker yellow than it was before. He didn't have to say anything for her to know that he was lonely. There weren't many people in the Ruins, and he didn't want to be stuck here by himself, too scared to travel to other towns.

She inhaled, "Okay, but you have to be less mean to me," she said, "I'm okay with you coming with, but we need to be a team and work together. We can break all of you guys out, alright?"

He nodded.


	5. Dust Jar

Flowey had made it clear that the next destination was not as empty as the first. In fact, it might have been dangerous, considering the Monsters were very vengeful against Frisk. She could be easily hurt or killed. ___ feared going forward, so she and Flowey stayed in this Home for a little while longer, at least until her head was healed enough so she could walk without getting dizzy. She predicted at least a week or two. Flowey usually kept to himself, but on odd occasions, he would stay beside her as she slept, so he wouldn't be alone. ___ appreciated the comfort.

Currently, ___ was looking through the room she had been sleeping in. There were so many items she knew that belonged to Frisk. The small human had made it clear she had abandoned much of her stuff Underground due to the threat of the monsters. ___ couldn't help but snoop, maybe she could find out why Frisk had started killing monsters left and right. Flowey was friendly enough, perhaps other monsters were friendly too? ___ couldn't imagine the person who owned this house could kill a child. She wasn't sure anyone could kill a child here, even without meeting anyone else. Who in their right mind could kill a child?

As ___ walked toward the bed to search under it, she stumbled and fell harshly onto the ground. She felt the pain in her left shoulder as she collided with the hardwood. She groaned out in pain as Flowey looked away from what he was reading (he had been reading some book that the previous owner left behind). He let out a snarky laugh at the sight of her rubbing her shoulder and sitting up. ___ looked at what her sock had gotten caught on in the first place. There was a loose floorboard, where a single nail was sticking up and had effectively ripped her sock open. ___ sighed, it was her only pair.

After taking her sock off, ___ went to look at the nail sticking up. She noticed the loose floorboard as well, pulling it up. Beneath was a small cavity that had been hollowed out, and it had multiple things inside. Flowey seemed interested in what ___ had found, and was watching her carefully.

The (h/c)-haired girl pulled out the first few things – a sweater, a pack of cigarettes, and a journal of some sort. Along with those, there was a toy knife and a jar full of dust. ___ pulled the jar out of the hole and held it up to the light. Flowey looked uneasy about the jar, especially when she looked at the lid. Right on the surface of the lid, "Toriel" was written. She was confused.

"What's a 'Toriel?'"

Flowey's eyes widened and he looked like he was going to get violently sick. ___ looked at him, cocking an eyebrow. Once she noticed just how scared he looked, she put the jar down.

"Flowey, are you okay?"

He shook his petals, "No, of course, I'm not," he nearly shouted, "Please take me out of the pot. Please."

___ gently removed the flower from his foothold, dropping him on the floorboards, to which he had magically disappeared into. She wondered if this 'Toriel' was a friend of Flowey's. The way he reacted made her feel like that was so. But, she didn't know Monsters turned to dust upon death. Did Frisk kill Toriel? She gently touched the jar, feeling saddened at the thought of it.

The (h/c)-haired girl moved the jar to the side slightly, grabbing the cigarettes and opening the carton. There were crayons on the inside, not what she was expecting, but it worked. The red crayon was dull and short compared to the other colors. She placed those to the side as well, beside the jar full of Toriel's dust. ___ grabbed the journal, opening it slowly, scared of what might have been inside. As the book opened, some more dust sprinkled onto her lap, but she didn't notice. In big red letters, on the first page, there were four words written – THEY ALL MUST DIE.

___ wasn't sure if she wanted to read on.

Still...

It was the only way she'd learn why Frisk did it all.

___ turned the page and began to read.

"This will be the 7th run. I don't know how many of them he remembers, but I remember them all. I don't know why I've Reset so many times. The first time I fell, I died so many times. I tried to play it like mom wanted. I didn't kill anyone, and it was so hard. But I wanted to do it for mom. But, I killed Flowey, and I was stuck in the Underground. I Reset."

___ wasn't sure what Frisk meant by 'Reset,' but by the way, she used the word... ___ wondered if Frisk could manipulate the universe. She read on.

"The second time, I don't know what was wrong with me. I killed mom. I Reset immediately. The third time, I killed Papyrus and Undyne. I've never felt so bad. But, the EXecution Points were nice. It made my fight with Asgore easier. I killed him, too. I got out, but, I missed mom. I Reset again.

"The fourth, I died. Mom killed me. It was an accident. I couldn't forgive her."

___ wondered who Frisk's mother was down here. Was it Toriel? It would make sense why she had kept the dust, then. Attachment never goes away, even in insanity. The (h/c)-haired girl was scared of reading on. She put the journal down, staring at the jar of dust again.

She inhaled deeply, touching her face. She hadn't realized she had started crying. Frisk had started out sweet, by the sound of it. She loved the monsters, and the monsters liked her, but she killed Flowey. What had Flowey done? Did Flowey deserve to die?

Frisk had 'Reset' and tried again, though. She killed Toriel if Toriel was the 'mom' in the journal. Was it an accident? Was it revenge? Curiosity? Frisk had 'Reset' immediately after. But, she had killed someone named Papyrus and another named Undyne. They didn't seem to regret killing another named Asgore. But, they missed Toriel, so they 'Reset.'

___ was feeling very sick. How could anyone wish that upon the Monsters? Were they really that bad? Killing people for points? Had Frisk broken in the third 'Reset'? ___ covered her mouth, trying to calm herself down enough to prevent further tears.

If anything, ___ felt the desire to help the Monsters more. She wanted to meet them, she wanted to free them from the Underground hell that Frisk had caused. The (h/c)-haired girl stood from the ground, grabbing the cigarette carton, the journal, and jar and putting them in her backpack. ___ grabbed the canvas shoes from the end of the bed, pulling them on to the corresponding foot. She reached for the sweater that Flowey had given her, finding there to be a name stitched into the collar of it – 'Asriel.' It looked like it was never worn, though.

She shrugged, pulling it on over her head, making sure that the sleeves of her button up shirt were properly on the outside, so she wouldn't struggle with the uncomfortable feeling of a wrinkled undershirt. ___ spared the mirror a look, adjusting the collar of the shirt as she did so. She didn't look too bad.

She couldn't recognize herself. So much has changed in a matter of two days. Her hair was so much shorter, and her clothes had changed considerably. A sweater and above the knee shorts comprised her outfit. She wore a single thigh-high sock (as the other had been ripped on the floorboard), and her canvas shoes were brown with black laces. Though the sweater was a little oversized, she felt cute and ready to meet the rest of the Monsters. Hopefully, they would find her cute as well.

___ wondered if she should re-sling her arm, in case her shoulder ached while walking through the Underground. Deciding that it would probably be for the best, she pulled the scarf she had been using as a sling and wrapped it around her neck and arm. Soon, her left arm was motionless, but it felt a lot better.

She flung her backpack over her right shoulder, ready to continue her adventure. It was now or never. ___ snagged Flowey's pot, leaving the bedroom and closing the door behind her. She had no idea where he was, but she would have to find him as soon as possible. He didn't want to be left alone, and honestly, she didn't want to travel the Underground by her lonesome either.

"Flowey!" she called, but nobody came.


	6. Can you hear me?

He was out in the garden, crying underneath a dead tree. Flowey had left the solace of the home to weep beneath the blackened tree. ___ wasn't sure how she had found him so easily, or why he was crying in the first place. She wanted to ask him but wasn't sure how to go about the subject. She didn't want to cause more hurt on the delicate buttercup, but she was curious. She cautiously walked toward the flower, easily towering over him. Once her shadow hit him, he looked up at her.

"Flowey," she crouched down beside him, "Let's go, okay? Let's not stay here anymore. It's obvious that you have a past here, or something, and you don't need to suffer. Let's continue on, okay?"

She placed the pot beside him, smiling patiently at him. Flowey looked away for a second before forcing himself into the pot, still not looking at her straight. ___ picked up the pot, tucking it in the big part of her backpack so that Flowey could peek out. Hopefully, he wouldn't notice that she brought along Toriel's dust, she wasn't sure how he'd react to it. As she walked back toward the home, she listened to Flowey's soft sobbing, not daring to interrupt.

She knew that Toriel and Flowey must have been close.

Or, he was having some sort of PTSD toward the dust of someone he knew.

She didn't want to know.

The two of them walked into basement, where ___ began to feel a tight pain in her chest. There was dust, everywhere. The walls were coated in hand prints, written words, claw marks. What had happened down here?

"Flowey," her voice was small, quiet, "Don't look. Please, don't look."

He didn't.

___ walked through the hallway, trying to figure out what could have happened. As she neared the end, she realized that there had been a fight. Had Frisk killed Toriel here?

She stopped in front of the door, where most of the dust must have been. It covered the floor and the walls. She gently crouched down and touched some of it. Warmth radiated from the particles, and ___ swore she caught a glimpse of who they belonged to. She inhaled deeply. This was Toriel, she decided, at least half of her. The other half was in her bag. ___ could feel tears threatening to fall, so she stood. She wiped her face with her sleeve, stumbling out the Ruins door. It brought her into another hall, where the dusty footprints lead to the end.

Who else had Frisk killed?

On the second set of doors, there was a scribble, no doubt from Frisk. It was a picture of a goat woman – Toriel – and Frisk, holding hands. ___ leaned against the door, trying not to cry. It was too difficult to handle. A tragedy had gone down. How was she supposed to feel about it? She finally pushed the second door open, getting blasted with cold, snowy air. Her journey was beginning.

She closed the Ruins door behind her, scared the wind would blow off Toriel's dust somehow. ___ turned to look at the snowy path ahead, finding it nearly abandoned. There were trees surrounding both sides, an occasional bush or rock dotting the woods, too. She gripped the handle of her backpack, shaking as she stood in the cold. Still, she had to continue on.

___ began to walk down the snowy path, her feet making crunchy noises on the ice flakes. It was pretty, here, but very cold, and very sad. She could feel the depression in the air, the nihilism. She wondered if anyone lived in these woods, or if Frisk had killed them too. ___ tried to focus on the path but found it painful to do so. She could see footsteps, but she had no clue as to how old they were. She worried that the first Monster she came across would be vengeful.

Flowey poked his head out of her backpack, looking around the area. He seemed to have stopped crying, which ___ was thankful for. He was probably the only reason she was alive right now, and maybe the other Monsters knew him enough to not hurt her.

"Be careful," he warned, "The Smiley Trashbag patrols this area every day, and usually more often since Frisk fell. He'll kill you without hesitation if he thinks you're a threat."

___ went still, eyes wide. If that was the case, she was much too frightened to continue. She stopped on the path, (e/c) eyes skimming the tree lines for any source of a monster. She turned her head to look behind her, and it seemed luck would not be on her side.

Standing five feet back was a Monster, glaring at her. His left eye was ablaze, looking as if it was made of pure blue and golden fire. His right eye was dark. He was a skeleton, she was sure of it. He wore a blue jacket, and a cream colored sweater beneath that. His dark pants contrasted with the whiteness he stood on. His shoes were much like hers, canvas and high topped, only the laces weren't tied. ___'s breath got caught in her throat. She understood why Flowey called him the 'Smiley Trashbag.' He had a large grin across his face.

She took an unsure step backwards, shaking violently. ___ wouldn't be able to run with her head injury, and he seemed to sense that. His grin widened as he took a step forward.

"you've come back, huh?"

His voice was deeper than she was expecting, and there was threatening tone to it. He chuckled when she widened her eyes. ___ grabbed onto her backpack, not daring to remove her eyes from him, in case he attacked her.

"didn't have enough the first time, i guess."

He took another step forward, causing her to take another step back. But, her back hit something hard, causing her to stop where she stood. ___ looked over her shoulder to see a barrier of bones, trapping her with him.

"where do ya think you're goin, kid?"

___ let out a small shout as some sort of skeletal head appeared over his shoulder. It opened its mouth, readying what appeared to be some sort of laser. ___ ran toward the forest edge, only stopping when more bones jumped from the ground, blocking her path.

"P-please, I'm not who you think I am-"

"really? to me, you look like a murderer."

The skeletal head fired a light blue laser at her. ___ instinctively ducked, falling into the snow, her free hand covering her head. The skeleton rose his hand, causing bones to burst from the ground around her. One caught her side, piercing through her flesh, impaling her. She let out a bloodcurdling scream, trying to get away from it. Flowey's eyes widened as she ripped the bone out without hesitation. Blood began to pour from her wound, and she didn't hesitate to pack snow into it.

The skeleton began to grow closer to her, approaching excruciatingly slow. ___ couldn't move. She was in too much pain. Flowey began whispering in her ear, begging her, encouraging her to move alone. But she couldn't even move her legs. ___ wondered if the bone had hit her spine. Was she paralyzed?

The skeleton stopped in front of her, both his eyes dark now. She gazed up at him, not even noticing that there was blood streaming down from her mouth or head. She must have reopened her head laceration. His grin widened as he leaned down over her.

"what? you not gonna take a hit at me?"

She shook her head, eyes watering from how much pain she was in. He chuckled.

"so, now you're playing pacifist, Frisk? well, i'm not accepting it."

More bones piercing through the ground, impaling her further. She gazed up at the skeleton one last time before her head slumped.

The skeleton had noticed at the last moment that the girl in front of him was not Frisk. She was taller, older. She even had a more feminine build. His eyes widened, white pupils emerging from his dark eye sockets. He quickly bent down, lifting her chin to see if she was still alive. Her eyes were closed, but he could hear her ragged breathing. He wondered if he should just finish her off. She was most likely going to die, anyway. He had done too much damage to her in a short amount of time.

But.

He noticed the golden flower hiding in her hair, scared, but not really. Flowey trembled as the skeleton reached his hand out to grab him.

"why the hell are you here, petals?"

Flowey hissed at the skeleton, "Why the fuck do you think, dumb ass?" he replied, "A human Fell and she promised to let us all go free. I wanna kill that little bastard that trapped us down here. Don't you? But now, you've gone and killed the only hope we had of escaping."

The skeleton put his hand to his face, regretting attacking the human, now. She had been innocent. Barely even looks like Frisk. How could he mistake her for them? Truth be told, he saw the similar haircut and the locket around her neck and reacted mainly out of fear. Papyrus was his priority. Always was, always will be.

"i thought it was the kid," the skeleton admitted, "i didn't wanna risk Pap's life again."

He was still kneeling beside her, hand on her chin. He gently stroked her jaw, brushing the (h/c) locks away from her (s/t) face. She was pretty, even now. He wondered if he could save her, even with all her wounds. She seemed to have packed the major one with snow, which was probably for the better. The skeleton let out a deep sigh, putting his arm under her knees and beneath her backpack, picking her up from the cold, snowy ground.

Flowey didn't seem too keen on this action.

"What the hell are you doing?"

The skeleton looked at him, "well, i guess i should try to help," he rolled his eyes, "unless, you wanna stay down here forever, then that's cool, too."

Flowey hid in the backpack, but not before the skeleton heard him say, 'make up your goddamn mind.' The skeleton wondered if he could use one of his shortcuts to get home quicker. Ever since Frisk had Fallen and wiped out much of the Underground, he struggled finding the motivation to do anything. But, ___ was a new hope, a new chance, a new dream. Still, he didn't want her around Papyrus. It couldn't be safe. He couldn't trust humans.

He took an uneasy step toward the completed gate on the bridge, using his blue magic to open it. The skeleton didn't dare try a shortcut – he didn't know what could happen.

"you're heavier than ya look, sweetheart."

He was speaking to ___, even if she was out cold. As he awkwardly shuffled down the pathway, her head lulled against his shoulder, causing him to tense. The skeleton didn't like the closeness already. He hated humans, but if she was his only chance to get Papyrus to the surface, he saw no other choice.

As he passed the small clearing that held the old conveniently-shaped lamp, and his sentry post, his eyes darkened. He could remember everything that happened in this area, in every timeline. The joking, the jesting, Papyrus enjoying his future fame. It seemed so long ago. It WAS so long ago. It's been two years and half a dozen timelines, the skeleton told himself.

Two years, too long.

___ was cold.

She wondered if the skeleton had abandoned her in the snow, to die. She didn't doubt it. He had been so quick to attack her, to try to kill her. It was Frisk's fault, and ___ knew that. The last human that had Fallen was violent. Frisk had killed so many people.

___ touched the ground, trying to find out where she was and if she was truly alive. The flooring was hard, cold, and slightly wet, but it wasn't snow. She tried to sit up, but a hand forced her back down. It was rough, but more demanding than anything.

Whoever lingered above said something to her, but she couldn't understand it. His words were gentle, at least. She turned her head slightly to get a good look at him, find that no one was truly there. But, she could feel the hand on her back. ___ quickly looked around the area she was in. There were few items strewn about here and there, yet a person was not among them.

As she laid on the flooring, full of fear, a warmth began to spread through her back, and where she had been afflicted with wounds. The pain that her groggy mind had not properly noticed because dull, almost a throbbing sensation. ___ inhaled sharply, tears forming in her eyes as the pain slowly ebbed away. Whatever was touching her, was healing her.

He spoke again, "___," his voice was strange, "___, 👍✌☠ ✡⚐🕆 ☟☜✌☼ 💣☜✍"

The language was weird, but somehow, she understood. "Can you hear me?" he had asked her. ___ nodded in response to what the Monster had asked. He chuckled before removing his hand from her back. The warmth lingered for a few seconds more and then was gone.

___ sat up now, looking at the room more closely. She was sure that the Monster that had been here was gone now. She was safe. The room was bare. She was laying half-on, half-off a dog bed. It was much too small for her to sleep on, but it was good enough for now. A bowl of kibble sat a few feet away, but the kibble was moldy and gross. She was effectively trapped in a cage, as well. A cold, damp cage. The wetness on the floor that she had noticed earlier had been her nearly dried blood.

Her backpack was hung up on a hook near the door outside the cage – out of her reach. She could see Flowey peeking out of it, staring at her, as if waiting for her to wake up. However, as she was about to say something to him, he shook his head and made a 'shhh' sound at her. She didn't understand why until she heard approaching voices from outside the room she was in.

"You left an injured human in the garage?"

"well... what else was i supposed to do?"

"SANS! You can't just leave someone in the garage to die!"

"too late for that, bro."

"I SWEAR TO GOD."

"sorry, bro."

He didn't sound sorry.

The door to the garage opened, revealing the smiling skeleton that had nearly killed ___, and another, taller one. They both came into the room, the taller one looking ashamed and worried, and the shorter one looked indifferent.

"Oh God, Sans," the taller said, "She's covered in blood! And, it's FREEZING IN HERE!!"

The taller skeleton unlocked the bars of her prison, walking into them immediately. She looked up at him with weary eyes, trying not to cry. He wore an oversized red sweater and an even larger scarf. The tall skeleton kneeled beside her, scared for her. He looked at the other skeleton – whom she learned was named Sans.

"Brother, we should bring her inside-"

"no."

"But Sans!"

"Papyrus, she's a human, just like Frisk is. i'm not taking any chances."

Papyrus looked at Sans, physically shaking. He wasn't mad, but the name that Sans had said – Frisk – had seemed to cause him fear. The taller skeleton bit into his knuckle, looking at his older brother.

"N-not all humans are evil, brother."

Sans' eyes widened at what Papyrus had said. He knew that. He knew that not all humans were evil, but Frisk had distorted his worldview so much, it was painful to think that there could be innocence in humankind.

Papyrus gently touched her face.

"We need to bring her inside, Sans." He said, "Come, human, I'll carry you."

Sans left eye lit up in flames at that, and he grabbed Papyrus' shoulder. He exhaled deeply, eyes returning to normal.

"no, bro, i'll carry her. i don't want her goin' near ya. you can carry her backpack."

___ quickly backed away from the skeleton, struggling to do so. All she knew was that she wanted to get away. Sans had hurt her, she couldn't trust him. He could try to kill her again and would most likely succeed. Papyrus noticed that and looked at his brother in pity.

"She's too scared of you, Sans. You hurt her."

Sans turned to look at her, bending down beside his brother and gazing at her. For a second, he looked like he truly regretted what had happened. But as soon as it appeared, it disappeared. He touched her face with his boney hand, causing the tears that were forming in her eyes to fall. Sans pulled her into a hug, to which she struggled against.

"i'm sorry i hurt you, sweetheart," he breathed, "i mistook you for Frisk. i'm sorry."

She shook her head, "Please don't kill me, please."

Papyrus let out a sigh, touching his brother's head. Sans looked at him, a questioning look. The taller skeleton looked sad. Sans let out a sigh of his own, letting go of ___ and moving back. Papyrus instead offered his arms to her, and she nearly jumped into them. Was it because he hadn't attacked her? Or was it because he was a sweet pile of bones? Sans didn't know, but their closeness bothered him. He didn't like the fact that Pap was very vulnerable right now.

___ gripped his sweater, burying her face into his chest and sobbing there. Papyrus rubbed her back, resting his chin on her head. He didn't seem to care that she was covered in blood. Even after everything that Frisk had caused, he was still so kind hearted.

"You're so cold, human."

He pulled the scarf from around his shoulders and wrapped it around her back and shoulders, trying to help warm her up. Sans watched suspiciously, ready to step into action of need be. His eyes were dark, unreadable, almost. He didn't want ___ inside his house. He didn't want Papyrus to even know about her, but he had seen Sans carrying her to the garage.

"Sans-"

Papyrus looked at his older brother, noticing the facial expression he held. The taller skeleton nervously held the human a little closer, extending his arm for his brother to hold. Sans stared at his available arm for a second before accepting it. Papyrus pulled him into the hug as well, even though Sans was against being so close to the human.

Flowey, who had remained silent until this point let out a laugh, causing ___'s eyes to crack open. Sans was staring right down at her, noticing how her expression changed.

"So, ___, you're going to let yourself be killed by the smiley trashbag?" Flowey laughed again, "I thought you wanted to free all Monsters, not succumb to them? You know they'll just kill you in your sleep."

Papyrus looked toward the voice, "Flowey- don't say that-"

Flowey, however, ignored him.

"Why not just kill them both? Right now? It's so easy to do. Sansy won't fight while Papyrus is around, it' your perfect chance."

___ gripped the scarf that Papyrus had wrapped around her, shaking violently. Killing them was always an option, especially if she feared dying later. She had no doubt that Sans would try to kill her if she took one wrong step. But. She wasn't Frisk.

"I won't kill anyone, Flowey," she cried out, "Not even Sans."


	7. he hates you but still tortures you with puns

Sans had become extremely relaxed when she admitted she wouldn't kill anyone, and especially not him. She didn't have a vengeful spirit like she had thought. This girl wasn't like Frisk, not at all. She seemed more compassionate, safer. She clinged onto Papyrus, helplessly loving his personality and his big frame. Though he was just as nervous around her as Sans was, Papyrus hid it very well. He seemed genuinely fond of her. Though, she was filthy, and he hated dirty things.

"How about we get you inside and give you a proper bath, huh, human?" Papyrus patted her head, "Are you able to walk on your own?"

___ wasn't sure if she was able to, honestly. After her fight with Sans, she struggled to move properly. He had injured her spine, she believed, which was the culprit of the problem. Papyrus was waiting patiently for her response. ___ tried her best to stand up, but her legs were weak and shaky. Papyrus noticed that and quickly caught her, holding her from her under bust. She embarrassedly looked toward her backpack, where Flowey was glaring. Sans stood off to the side a little, looking a little guilty that she could not even stand properly.

Papyrus turned to his brother, a chastising look on his face. His skeletal eyebrows knit together, while he tried to piece together all the info he could. Finally, he had it.

"Sans," Papyrus looked back at ___, "Do you injure this human's spine in your fight?"

Sans shrugged, tucking his hands into his jacket's pockets, not really caring if he did or not. Though, he did care. He was the ultimate Judge, and he had judged ___ wrong. She leaned against Papyrus, feeling rather silly. He was holding her like a teddy bear. Sure, the height difference was there, but ___ was certainly not a teddy bear. She was tough, sometimes. Sans had just scared the hell out of her. Anyone would get upset by nearly dying.

"hey, if she can stand, it's not that bad."

Sans had apparently said the wrong thing. Papyrus hit him on the head, not hard, but enough where Sans was rubbing his skull. Pap sighed deeply, picking the human up properly, cradling her in his arms. Sans looked unsure about that.

"hey, Pap, i don't think you're strong enough to do that, yet-"

Papyrus looked at his big brother, "It has been two years, Sans," he said, "This is as healthy as I have been. Please, have faith in your great brother. Even in this weakened state, I can carry such a small human."

His confidence leaked through his voice, something Sans had not heard in a while. Since the whole near-death incident that Frisk had caused, Papyrus had basically collapsed in on himself. He didn't shout or cook. He stopped wearing his battle body, he even stopped wearing his scarf for a while. He had no strength to take over the Royal Guard. Everything had died in him, all his confidence included. When he spoke to Sans, his voice was often cold or sad. He was a shell of his former self.

Sans blamed Frisk.

How caring Papyrus was toward ___ reminded Sans of the past. It was bittersweet to think about his brother back then. He had cared so deeply for Frisk, only to be killed over and over – only to be left for dead in the snow at the edge of town. Sans had almost missed him. Sans had almost lost him. Papyrus would have been buried under the mounds of snow and dust that he was covered in. Sans was lucky to save his brother.

"i'm not sayin' you're weak, bro," Sans chuckled, "but you could use a little more meat on those bones."

Papyrus' doting on the human paused as he sent Sans a dirty look. Ah, that didn't change either, Sans noted. The human was confused at the joke, and not because she didn't understand it. ___ just thought that Sans was incapable of a sense of humor after he had nearly tried to kill her.

Papyrus carried her out of the prison cell, grabbing her backpack from the hook and handing it to Sans. The shorter skeleton took it, grumbling about Flowey. The two of them left through the door of the garage, emerging themselves in the cold air. ___ shivered, leaning against Papyrus, who was surprisingly warm for not having any flesh or internal organ. For some reason, she liked the big skeleton. He was so sweet and caring, despite everything. He seemed genuinely worried for her wellbeing too, and peaceful.

Sans walked ahead of them, opening the front door of the house right beside the garage – their home. Papyrus carried ___ into it, and she accepted the warmth. The house was neat and tidy, she noticed. Right inside the door was a coat rack that only had a panda bear hat on it. On the right side of the door there was a table with only a rock on it. Weird placement for a rock, she supposed, but they were Monsters. It could have been worse.

Sans dropped her backpack on the floor, unceremoniously dumping Flowey onto the ground. The buttercup hissed at Sans, but after a single dirty look, he shut up. Papyrus placed ___ on the oversized green couch for a second before taking her shoes off and removing the scarf that he had given her. He looked at Sans quickly, who was just hovering.

"Hey, brother," Papyrus called, "Why don't you make dinner? I'll help the human take a bath. Then, maybe we can sit down and watch one of those movies you got."

Sans hesitated, "why don't i give her a bath?" he suggested, "you're a much better cook anyway, bro."

___ shuddered, covering her face. Papyrus took her silence at nervousness rather than embarrassment. The fact that she had to be bathed by some random skeleton monsters was mortifying.

"Sans, you should not lie like that," Papyrus replied, "You have been doing all of the cooking since I fell injured, you are by far the superior one in the kitchen. Besides, the human is not fond of you, and I cannot say I blame her!"

Sans looked toward the kitchen, very obviously annoyed with the situation. He began to walk toward it before pausing in the mouth of the arch. He looked back to ___ and Papyrus.

"what do ya wanna eat, then?"

Papyrus shrugged in response, moving to pick up the human. He spared no more attention to Sans, whose entire attention was on him. Sans watched as Papyrus approached the stairs, no doubt to take the human to the bathroom upstairs.

"how about spaghetti?" he dared ask.

Papyrus froze.

"Make what you want, Sans."

He carried her up the multicolored staircase, leaving his brother downstairs. Sans stared at the staircase, his Soul beating harshly in his chest cavity. He was angry and hurt. But, more importantly, he was scared. He turned toward the kitchen, entering it finally.

Papyrus kicked open the bathroom door, entering the room and placing ___ on the edge of the bathtub. He moved to take her lone sock off, finding her leg bruised under it. The skeleton sighed, looking up at her. He sat beside her on the tub.

"I am very sorry for my brother," he told her, "I do not know how much you understand about our situation. Human Frisk, they had, they had killed a lot of our friends. I had, I was almost..."

___ looked up at the taller skeleton, noticing that his pale face looked even paler – if that was possible. He looked regretful, scared. She grabbed his hand, giving it a squeeze.

"You don't have to tell me, Papyrus," she said, "I think I understand. Sans is your brother, and he reacted out of fear and concern. He doesn't want me to kill you. And I promise, I won't."

The two of them sat in silence on the edge of the bathtub for a few minutes, just staring at the tiles of the floor. Papyrus was not sure what he could say to her, and it was the same feeling for her. ___ felt the holes in her sweater, mindlessly feeling her own body and where her wounds once were. The Monster that had healed her had done quite well. Her head didn't hurt anymore either.

___ looked up at the skeleton, smiling timidly at him. He paid her no attention, instead looking at his shaking hands. He was nice, but she could tell he struggled with his memories.

"How about I tell you a story while I take a bath?" she suggested.

Papyrus looked at her, "What kind of story?"

"I dunno, we can make it up as we go along, together."

-

She had not expected Papyrus to join her in the bath. Once she had filled the bathtub with warm water, and climbed in, the skeleton was eager to join her. ___ supposed it would be okay. He was not human, he didn't see her in a sexual way, and she certainly didn't see a skeleton in a sexual way, either. He was sweet, too, which guaranteed that he wouldn't try anything with her.

It was actually nice, sitting in a hot bath with someone else. Notto mention, the warmth helped soothe her back, and Papyrus had offered to healit to the best of his abilities so she could walk on her own. Though, Papyrus took up most of the room. He helped wash the blood out of her hair, and she felt very pleased with the end result. Unfortunately, she was the one that had to get out first, as her skin was beginning to get wrinkly. Still, she waited on the bathtub ledge, covered in a fluffy towel for Papyrus to decide he was done. Their story made no sense, but at least it was cute. It very obviously made him feel better, too. Something else she could appreciate.

Once Papyrus got out of the bath and excused himself to get himself some clothes, she found herself alone. This was the first time she was truly alone since she Fell. Flowey had never been around all the time, but he had still been there. She hugged the towel tighter to her body, listening to the commotion outside the bathroom. She heard Papyrus call down to Sans.

"what's up, bro?"

"Can you check the human's bag for a change of clothing? Hers are so ripped and stained, I am too sure she should put them back on!"

"sure, i can do that."

Something in ___'s gut told her not to let Sans go into her bag. Toriel's dust jar was there, and she was not sure how the skeleton would react. She burst out of the bathroom door, just as Sans had opened the large zipper and looked inside. Papyrus looked at her when she came out, eyes wide in surprise.

"Human!" he said, "Be careful, I do not wish to have to repair the bathroom door!"

___ wanted to reply with a sorry, but Sans had pulled the jar out. His hands were shaking as he read the label on the lid, and his eyes became dark. It looked like he was going to cry. The (h/c)-haired girl felt like she should hide from him, especially since he had turned to look right up at her.

She let out a squeak and slammed the bathroom door closed. ___ locked it behind her, praying that Sans wouldn't try to bust in and kill her. Papyrus let out a shout of surprise as Sans marched up the stairs, his left eye ablaze in hatred.

"B-brother! Calm down!"

"get out of my way, Papyrus."

"But, Sans! This is probably just a-"

"Papyrus."

She wrapped her arms around her legs, tears filling her eyes. She was going to die. She really was. Sans was going to kill her, and she knew it. He had spared her before for whatever reason, but now he had no reason to keep her alive. Why keep the supposed homicidal maniac around? He slammed his fist on the door.

"h u m a n."

The banging on the door ceased, and she heard a sliding sound. Sans had leaned his back against the bathroom door and slid down it. His anger had subsided, or at least, that's what it seemed like. ___ heard him let out a deep sigh, banging his fist on the floor. He rested his head against the door, closing his eye sockets. Papyrus stood a few feet back, only wearing jeans. He nervously watched his brother, gripping his new, orange-colored sweater with his fingers. Sans raised his left hand, knocking on the door, gently. There was no response.

"hey, kid," he called out, "please don't be afraid of me. i'm sorry."

Still, no response.

Papyrus took a step forward, grabbing the handle of the door to open it. ___ had locked it, though. She was laying on the bathroom floor, quivering and crying into the soft towel. She had been fine a few minutes ago, when her and Papyrus were in the bath, but now she was terrified. Sans wanted to kill her, no matter what he said. He was calmer now, but she still had upset him. She was too scared to open the door, or even respond.

"why do you have her dust?"

Sans clenched his fist at his own question, looking at the glass jar that he had abandoned on the table downstairs. It barely had anything in it, he imagined it would be hard to collect a Monster's dust. He didn't know how long she was in the Underground, but he couldn't imagine for very long. She had other wounds when he found her, and they seemed only a few days old.

It wasn't as if he believed that she killed Toriel. He knew Frisk did.

"i know you didn't kill her." he tried again, "Frisk killed her, they told me that. i just reacted bad. i'm sorry. please answer me."

Papyrus knocked on the bathroom door now, hoping she would reply to him.

"H-human," he said, "Sans is very sorry. But, why do you have Lady Toriel's dust? It is rather...suspicious to carry that around with you."

___ sniffled, trying to sit up. Her back ached as she did so, but she forced herself to lean against the bathroom door. She could feel Sans' warmth through it. She leaned her head against it, trying to stop herself from crying. ___ brushed her hair out of her face, wiping her eyes.

Sans put his fingers under the door, hoping she'd notice them. ___ did, almost immediately. She hesitated before putting her fingers on his, confirming that she was okay. He took that as the okay to continue talking.

"i know you haven't killed anyone, sweetheart," he acknowledged, "there's somethin' called EXP and LOVE down here. EXP is-"

"EXecution Points?"

He inhaled, "how do ya know that?" but she didn't answer, "you're right. EXP stands for EXecution Points. LOVE stands for Levels Of ViolencE. You don't have any EXP, and the only way to get that is through killin'."

Sans motioned to Papyrus' sweater, and the taller skeleton seemed to understand. He handed Sans the wooly, orange sweater. Sans gently knocked on the door again, feeling like she might come out. She let out a small sigh, unlocking it. Papyrus pushed it open once she got out of the way. ___ was sitting on the floor, looking as if she was sobbing seconds before. Sans handed her the orange sweater, and she quickly pulled it on over the towel. It was huge on her, going down to her knees, just about. It was big on Papyrus.

Sans wanted to offer her a hug in apology, but she was so scared of him. It wasn't worth it. Instead, Papyrus scooped her into his arms, holding her close. She accepted his comfort.

"hey, kid," Sans stood up, "you can sleep on the couch, but..."

Papyrus nuzzled her face with his nose, and she chuckled slightly. Sans really didn't appreciate that. His brother was getting very attached to the human, very quick.

"but," he gained her attention, "you're not allowed in Papyrus' room. if you come near him when i'm not around, i will kill you. if you hurt him, i will kill you. if you ever need anything in the middle of the night, you come to me. do you understand?"

"Sans-"

___ nodded, "I understand," she whispered, "I- I don't plan on staying long, anyway. Maybe just tonight, and I'll continue on tomorrow."

Papyrus looked at her, very sad at her words. Sans didn't want his brother to feel abandoned, either. This was the only hope they had in two years. This is the happiest Pap has been, too. How could a human change so much in a matter of a few hours? Sans let out a long sigh. He wished she liked him, at least a little. Then he could believe that she might be telling the truth about her intentions. She feared him. If she wasn't, he imagined they'd get along, too.

Only, this whole situation was selfish.

___ was going to die either way. There was no physical way she could survive down here. They needed one last human Soul to break the barrier, and she was it. She was the final Soul. Sans wouldn't let it slip through his fingers. He was finally going to let his brother see the surface. They wouldn't be trapped Underground anymore. They would be free, at last. But, how could he break that to Papyrus? He knew his brother would prefer to be trapped down here than cause a human's death. He was innocent. Or, he used to be. The circumstances were different then compared to now.

Sans stood to the side, watching as his brother interacted with the human. His hands were locked around her lower back, keeping her against his chest. She was giggling at something he had told her. This wasn't the Papyrus he knew, but it was the one he loved. Sans couldn't blame him. Papyrus had been intensely lonely for months, locked away in his room, often doing nothing but staring at the wall or reading books he had read a dozen times. At least before, he had friends to talk to. He had Undyne and Alphys. He could watch Mettaton on the television and visit Napstablook's snail farm. Everything was fine. Everything was fine.

Papyrus raised his hand to ___'s face, gently brushing her hair away. It seemed intimate, and Sans didn't like it. The older skeleton cleared his throat – causing both of them to look at him.

"i think the human should get some sleep, Pap. i'll bring your dinner up to you."

Papyrus sent ___ a sad look but nodded in agreement. He went into his room for a second, and returned with a blanket and a pillow. He handed them off to her.

"I hope you have a fantastic sleep, human!" he chirped, "I will talk to you in the morning!"

Papyrus gave her a gentle push toward the couch. She spared him a nervous look before stepping down the stairs. ___ put the blanket and pillow down on the couch, before turning to look back at the two skeletons. Sans was glaring down at her, and Papyrus was gone. He took a step down, coming closer. She cautiously sat down on the couch, crossing her legs, and wrapping the blanket around her. The first thing she needed to do tomorrow was get new clothes.

Sans continued coming down the stairs until he was directly in front of her. She quivered under his stare, but he didn't seem hostile in it.

"i don't want you to leave here."

She tightened her hold on the blanket, (e/c) eyes staring up at him. Sans sat on the couch beside her, kicking his legs up on top of hers. He looked interested in her at that very moment. His white pupils stared at her, observing her face.

"well?"

___ twiddled with her thumbs, "Why?" she asked, "You don't exactly like me, and I can't say I really like you either – no offense. I just, I'd like to get going. I feel like my path doesn't end here, Sans."

He let out a long sigh, glancing at her. The grin on his face faltered.

"you see, Pap likes you, kid," Sans said, "if you leave here, you will die. so many Monsters are pissed about Frisk. they want to escape and kill them. even if it means killing you."

___ clenched her teeth at that. She was scared of Sans. What if there were Monsters more powerful than him out there? He seemed to notice her thought process.

"just, don't leave the house with either Papyrus or i." he shrugged, "i'd prefer if you didn't bother him, but he trusts ya, so i guess i have to, huh?"

She shook her head, "You don't have to trust me," she whispered, "When I Was on the surface, I visited Frisk before I came down here. She wants me to kill you all, finish what she started. What if something changes? What if I go insane like she did? What if I kill you or Papyrus?"

Sans' eyes grew dark at her revelation. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder, pulling her against his ribcage. It was a very different feeling from being held by Papyrus. ___ didn't realize she started crying. The human rule breaker, the one that broke laws to come to the mountain, was crying. She was crying at the thought of all the death and torment these Monsters went through. She was crying because she feared herself, because she feared Frisk.

He let her cry into his jacket, not really caring much. She dug her fingers into the sweater beneath his jacket, feeling the ribs beneath her fingers. Sans let out a sigh, leaning his cheekbone against her head. He wasn't sure why he felt so comfortable around her. She was of a whole different caliber than Frisk. Frisk rarely showed emotions. They had been friends, sure, but they didn't react to much. ___'s emotions just felt so real, so genuine. It was refreshing. Sans rubbed her arm, noticing the locket that was still draped around her neck.

He couldn't help himself. With his other arm, he ripped the locket right from her neck. ___ squealed at that, jumping away from him. Sans held the heart-shaped necklace, glaring at it. The (h/c)-haired girl stared curiously at it. She hadn't given the locket much thought since she stole it from Frisk. It wasn't that important to her.

"no wonder i didn't manage to kill you."

What?

She was confused. What did Sans mean by that?

"oh, uh, you took this from Frisk, huh?" he asked, "this actually belonged to the first human, if i remember correctly. i don't think you should wear this, sweetheart."

___ rubbed her face, "Why not?" she asked.

"can't you tell? it gives off the weirdest vibe."

She could tell what he meant. Just looking at it gave her bad vibes. It felt as if it were screaming at her to do something, to fight and react. ___ didn't really like the locket to begin with but had gone along with it for the sake of returning it to the Underground.

"I guess, I see your point."

He forced the necklace in his pocket, ignoring her questioning stare. Sans grinned at her, and she sent him a timid smile back.

"i'd hope so, 'cause carrying this necklace around is pointless."

He winked at ___ the moment the pun left his mouth. She groaned a little, but also let out a little chuckle. It was amusing, to say the least. She supposed even the worst people could have a sense of humor.

"That was, uh, humorous?"

Sans started to laugh, "no, this is humerus."

He pointed to his upper arm.

"I hate you."

She was really laughing. Sans laughed along with her, leaning his head against her shoulder as he did so. His laughter was deep, and more like wheezing at times. After a solid minute of laughter, he laid back against the couch cushions, wiping his one eye of a single tear. He breathed deeply, still chuckling every so often.

"you have some great reactions, kid."

"Were my reactions...tickling your funny bone?"

Sans chuckled a little bit, rubbing her head, "you're not too bad." he sighed, "i have to give Pap his dinner. i'll be back."

The skeleton got off the couch, disappearing into the kitchen. ___ decided to take this opportunity to read some more of Frisk's journal. She wondered for a brief second if it would piss Sans off, further. Or, maybe he would want to read it with her? Still, ___ didn't want to screw up the friendliness he had going on. She watched as Sans carried a plate of what looked like spaghetti up the stairs, and how he soon disappeared into the room right at the top – Papyrus', probably.

She used her foot to bring her backpack closer to the couch. Once it was there, she pulled the journal out. As she did, something occurred to her, though. Where did Flowey go? She shrugged. He would appear later if he wanted to. There was no pressure. It was obvious he hated the skeleton brothers after the event in the garage.


	8. runaway

The journal was blank for several pages. A few doodles lined the pages here and there, but it was fairly dead. ___ wondered if there were even any more entries. Frisk could have given up on the journal after she was killed by Toriel, it was understandable if that was the case. Except, she didn't give up on the journal. On one page, there were black letters, scattered around and written all over – D E T E R M I N A T I O N. ___ wondered what it had to do with anything, but continued on to the next page. The doodles had turned to scribbles, and the writing was harsh and almost unreadable.

"The fifth run, I killed everyone. I spared no one. The Ruins were empty. Mom was dead. Snowdin was dead. Papyrus was a pile of dust. It still brings a smile to my face. He's annoyingly innocent. But I only killed him to piss off Sans. He was fun to dance with. Undyne died so easily. She died protecting MK. How stupid. Alphys didn't expect me to blow her lab up. Mettaton didn't think I'd kill him. I killed everyone. I got to the Judgement hall, and I saw Sans.

I had broken him, again. I loved seeing it. I love seeing him in so much pain. He was fun to kill. It took a long time. I died, a lot. He's strong, he's fast, but he's not good enough. I died. And died. And died. And died and died and died and died. I died eighty-seven times before I killed him. He relived my genocidal delight until I killed him. He looked so b r o k e n. I took Asgore's soul and left. But, when I was free from the darkness, I realized what I did. I Reset, one last time."

Another Reset? Frisk had said she did seven of them. But how many did she kill in? The seventh was the last. ___ feared the sixth run. ___ felt her heart pounding away in her chest, beneath her flesh. She felt dizzy, lightheaded. Frisk had enjoyed killing all those Monsters. She had killed Papyrus. She killed Sans. But, Sans killed her? By the way, she made it sound, there were more than seven runs, but only seven Resets. Frisk made it sound that every time she died, she ended up back at the start, reliving it over and over again. Had she killed Papyrus eight-seven times? Had Sans killed her that many times? Anyone would snap.

___ turned the page, scared to see the last run. She could hear Sans talking to Papyrus upstairs, almost in a happy way. She felt guilty in the pit of her stomach toward them. They had died.

She shook her head, gazing at the crayon writing.

"The sixth run, I didn't kill anyone. I lived with mom for months. I never wanted to go. But, I wanted to get back home. I wanted to see my town again and tell them of the Monsters. I wanted to free them. They deserved the surface.

I fought Asriel. I freed the Monsters. I lived with Sans and Papyrus for a while before moving in with mom and dad. It was nice, but... I was getting bored. They were assimilating too easily. The humans welcomed them with open arms. I had thought that maybe they would realize that leaving the Underground was a mistake. That humanity was a cruel thing. But it wasn't. They were loved.

I Reset."

___ was too nervous to cry. What had Frisk done? How could she make friends with all these Monsters to want them dead? She wanted them to be killed on the surface, or to be persecuted. Why?

She read on.

"I woke up crying. My last Reset was so painful. Each time I woke up in the Ruins, I felt more and more pain. It was almost unbearable now. This would be my last timeline, no matter what. I can't do it again. I had to be careful what I did down here, I can't regret it.

So, why did I kill everyone in the Ruins? I killed Mom. I liked it. I struggled with pacifism in this run. After killing everyone before, I struggled. It became easier to kill the more I did. It was easy to stab her when she was hugging me. I almost feel pity for the next human to Fall. They'd be all alone.

Sans didn't meet me outside the Ruins. I understand he was upset, but that's just childish. So, I decided to play with him a little. I killed everyone on the way to Snowdin, letting him know that it was his fault he skipped his patrol that day. While I didn't kill anyone in the town, I did fight Papyrus. I kept hitting him until he couldn't move, and I left him there. Sans wasn't happy with me.

I decided to not play around. If he wanted to avoid me, then I'd make it so he couldn't. I killed everyone in Waterfall. I killed everyone in Hotland. I spared the capital, but only just. Right now, as I'm writing this, I'm standing outside the castle. I had convinced Flowey to return my journal to mom's house, and that he'd forget when he did. The plan is to kill Asgore and leave. I don't know how it'll go.

But this is the last Reset. Have fun, Sans."

___ held the book tightly in her hand, staring at the last three words. Had Frisk done this all to spite Sans? This whole thing? Was Sans really that bad? The (h/c)-haired girl pulled her knees to her chest, dropping the journal on the ground beside her. She didn't even notice Sans walking down the stairs and approaching her. The skeleton sent her a confused look when she didn't react to his arrival.

He sat down on the couch beside her, gazing over at her with a lazy grin on his face. He called her name, but she did not reply. Sans, curiously, touched her knee. ___ looked at him quickly, eyes wide. His grin faltered a little at her expression. He realized something must have happened at that.

"what's wrong?"

She looked at him, "Can we watch a movie or something?" her voice was quiet, "I just, I don't think I'll be able to sleep without background noise of some sort."

Sans hesitantly picked up the TV remote, allowing whatever movie was in the movie player to start playing. It was some Asian film that ___ had never heard of, but it seemed to be about karate or martial arts of some sort. She only half paid attention to most of it. Sans seemed to be watching her. Neither of them seemed very interested, but they kept it on for the sake of noise. She didn't want to speak to him, and he wasn't sure how to speak to her. He didn't know how to talk to someone that didn't really like him very much (not that he blamed her).

Eventually, however, he began to feel sleepy from the movie. His head dipped back, and he began to snooze on the couch, leaving ___ alone to her thoughts. She was still thinking about Frisk and Sans fighting. He seemed to be the last stand between her and the King of Monsters. She went to ask him what his role was in the Underground. Was he some sort of officer or guardsman to the king?

But, he was fast asleep.

___ let out a deep sigh but pulled some of her blanket over top of him so he wouldn't be cold. Her (e/c) eyes watched the movements on the television, finding no enjoyment in them. She leaned her head against Sans' shoulder, hoping that she wouldn't fall asleep beside him. Her mind was racing, so she honestly doubted it, but still. She didn't want to risk it.

Except, she hadn't had a proper night's rest in days. All she did was pass out from all her injuries. Her body was so tired. It couldn't hurt to just, close her eyes for a little while.

She woke up to a slamming sound.

___ jolted up, eyes looking around the room that she had fallen asleep in. She was still in the living room of the skeletons' house. The room was dark except for the television (which had gone on to play reruns of some strange show that involved a calculator dancing on a stage). She felt out of it as if she was not completely awake yet. After the slamming sound, there was silence, save for the television's music and occasional chit-chat. ___ slumped back against the couch, head bumping something harder than she expected.

Oh.

She forgot.

Sans was laying underneath her, fast asleep and hugging her pillow. She groggily pulled the blanket off her back, sharing more of it with him so he wouldn't get cold.

Could skeletons get cold?

___ yawned, sitting up between his legs and looking at the television. Normally, she would freak out to have fallen asleep on top of someone, but he was asleep too. Sans probably wouldn't realize that they had slept together on the couch. He had fallen asleep almost thirty minutes before she did. For someone who hated her guts, he sure was comfortable around her. As ___ tucked the blanket more around him, he let out a groan, moving slightly. She thought he had woken up when his eye sockets fluttered slightly, and flames leaked out of the leftmost one, but he rolled over and returned to sleep. ___ gently touched Sans' face, standing up as she did so.

As she did, another slamming noise echoed from upstairs. She wondered if it was Papyrus. The noise was loud enough that it had to belong to someone rather than something. ___ knew that Sans had forbidden her from going into Papyrus' room, but it was worrisome. She didn't want the younger skeleton to be hurt or having a nightmare. Deciding that Sans would just have to suck it up, she began to tiptoe up the stairs, hoping that he would stay asleep.

She spared him one last look, seeing him lightly snoring.

He's cute when he's not trying to kill me.

___ quickly put her ear against Papyrus' door, listening to what was going on. It mainly sounded like tossing and turning, but she heard an occasional sob. Her heart ached for him. He was a sweet kid, he didn't deserve nightmares.

___ gently knocked on his bedroom door. She didn't want to burst in uninvited. After a moment, the sobbing stopped, and she heard Papyrus' boney feet padding the ground, approaching the door. The doorknob turned, and he opened it a crack. He didn't expect her.

"Go back to sleep, Sans," he whispered.

She grabbed the doorknob, pushing it open a little more, "It's not Sans," she said, "Are you okay, Pap?"

He timidly opened the door a little wider, revealing his tear-stained face. ___ didn't realize that skeletons could actually cry. Papyrus had thick, orange tears falling down from his eye sockets. He looked at her innocently, trying to hide the fact that he had even been crying. Though, he didn't do a very good job seeing that the orange tears were still falling. His sweater was bunched up from his rolling around, no doubt.

"Papyrus," she said sadly, "Come here."

She hugged the skeleton, feeling pity for him. She didn't know much about Monsters in general, but she really didn't know anything about the skeleton brothers. She only sort of understood their situation, and only barely knew that they were capable of. Frisk had so traumatically injured Papyrus, and it seems even now the scars hurt. Sans had his own scars, too. What was she supposed to do with them? Certainly, letting them free on the surface would help a little, but she couldn't see it being a permanent solution to their depression.

 

The moment she hugged him, Papyrus burst into more tears, crying into her hair. She hoped his orange tears weren't fatal to humans. That would be a terrible way to die. He held her close, glad for the comfort and warm body. She wondered why he wouldn't open the door for Sans. Then again, ___ knew how selfless Papyrus was. She had seen it. He had put her needs above his when pulling her from the garage. Maybe he didn't want to worry his older brother? She gave him a squeeze.

"Do you wanna talk about it?"

He shook his head.

"Do you want me to tuck you into bed?"

Papyrus didn't reply to that question, so ___ took it as a 'yes.' She lead him back into his room, praying that Sans wouldn't wake up from their chatter. Papyrus followed in her path, much like a lost puppy would. She looked around his room, taking in the sights. It certainly looked as if it belonged to a kid. She spotted the race car bed and allowed Pap to sink into the mattress. ___ gently pulled his blankets up and around him, tucking them under his body like a snuggly bug.

She gently patted his head, even giving it a small kiss. Papyrus sniffled, trying to stop his crying, though not seeming to do a good job at it. The (h/c)-haired human decided that she would try to distract him by asking some questions.

"So, Papy, how old are you, anyway?"

He rubbed his left eye socket, "I- I am nineteen," he whispered, "How old did you think I was?"

She was honestly surprised by his age. ___ had assumed the Monsters had to be centuries older. The fact that Papyrus was only a year younger than her was concerning.

"Honestly," she chuckled, "I thought you were several hundred years old. I didn't realize that you could be so young. I feel so stupid, now."

Something about the way she said that caused Papyrus to laugh at her. It was the first time she heard his laughter. ___ watched him laugh, eyes wide. His laughter was something to behold. It was cute.

She giggled a little bit at him, before asking more questions.

"How old is Sans?"

Papyrus scooted over in his bed, patting the mattress beside him. ___ decided to take him up on it. She leaned against his big ribcage, feeling safe there. She felt that even Sans couldn't hurt her there. Papyrus felt like a protective brother.

She watched the skeleton touch his face in thought.

"Sans is rather old," he admitted, "HE IS ALMOST TWENTY-FOUR!!"

His volume had gotten very suddenly louder. ___ nearly jumped in fright at it. He had been so soft spoken before that she was having a hard time believing he could be so loud. But, Papyrus looked very happy with her beside him. Maybe this was how he was naturally?

"Jeez," ___ laughed, "He is pretty old, huh? So, his birthday's coming up?"

The skeleton nodded, "A few weeks, actually!" he chirped, "I have been searching everywhere for the BEST PRESENT FOR MY BROTHER!!"

___ wondered if Sans even realized that his birthday was coming up. He always seemed so distracted by everything. Even when they were sitting together on the couch, watching that strange movie, his mind was elsewhere. He was probably thinking of ways to kill her.

"Say," Papyrus began, regaining ___'s attention, "Human! You never told me your name."

"Oh?"

___ supposed she hadn't. The whole time, the two skeletons had been calling her 'Human.' Sans had even called her 'Frisk' multiple times. She was so unbothered by the mix up that she didn't even think of telling her name. Neither of them had asked, so she thought it didn't matter. She was leaving in the morning, anyway.

"My name is ___," she said.

Papyrus' face lit up at her announcement, "Do you like puzzles, Human ___??"

It was such an innocent question.

Sans didn't realize he had fallen asleep on the couch. All he remembered was watching some shitty movie with the human, and that was it. He laid on the couch, gazing up at the ceiling, trying to remember what else had happened. He was still dressed, at least. The blanket that Papyrus had given to the human was spread out over him, and her pillow was beneath his head. Even his high tops were still on. He really did fall asleep suddenly.

He groggily sat up, looking around the room. Sans realized he was the first one awake. Papyrus was usually awake by now, even if it was just to do some chores or occasionally cook breakfast. But no, the house was completely silent. Sans was terrified. The silence nipped at his Soul and filled him with fear. He decided to go and wake his brother up, just so he wouldn't be alone.

He marched up the stairs, desperate to see his brother. What if the human had killed him while they were all asleep? What if he opened his brother's door, and his room was covered in dust? Sans felt tightness in his chest as he reached for the doorknob. However, before he could touch it, the door opened. Papyrus nearly knocked him over in the process.

"S-SANS!" the taller skeleton shouted, "I CANNOT FIND ___!"

Panic was thick in his voice, but Sans didn't understand why. He had no idea who or what a ___ was. The name was unfamiliar. He stared up at his brother.

"what, bro?"

"THE HUMAN!" Papyrus explained, "SHE IS NOT HERE!"

Sans eyes darkened at the clarification, and Papyrus noticed. The smaller skeleton stood completely still, shaking in his shoes.

"I AM SO WORRIED FOR HER," Papyrus gripped his arms tightly, "SANS, WHAT IF SHE IS DEAD? WHAT IF ONE OF THE OTHER MONSTERS-"

Sans took a step away from his brother, "stay here, Pap," he said, "i'll go find her."

Papyrus looked even more nervous at that, "Please do not harm the human, brother," he practically begged, "She is the only good thing down here."

Sans turned away from his brother, taking the steps two at a time. Papyrus watched his brother descend, shaking in fright. He wasn't sure what he was more scared of – the fact that ___ was gone, or that Sans was the one going to search for her. He took a cautious step down the stairs, causing Sans to look at him with his dark eye sockets.

"Please, let me come with you."

"no."

"Sans-"

"i said 'no,' Papyrus."

Sans' eye flashed gold, causing him to turn his head away from his brother. The smaller skeleton opened the front door of their home and left through it, slamming the door behind him. Papyrus traveled down the stairs, too. He didn't want to defy Sans, but, ___ could be in danger. There were other Monsters around that were desperate to escape the Underground or seek vengeance on Frisk, even if it meant killing an innocent human.

____, however, was no in any trouble. She was walking through Waterfall, enjoying the beauty of the Echo flowers and the light they gave off. She had left slightly after Papyrus fell asleep that morning, thinking it would be best. As much as she adored the young skeleton, the older one hated her. She couldn't stay any longer. The only thing she hated about her choice, was that she was wearing her bloodied clothes. While she kept Papyrus' orange sweater on, she had to wear the jeans she wore before, when Sans had attacked her.

They were wet, damp from her blood and from the snow. She supposed it didn't matter much, since she was going to be leaving the Underground as soon as she could.

___ wandered around the dark 'Falls, feeling at peace with the sound of running water. Occasionally, she would catch glimpses at Monsters traveling through the area. None seemed to notice her, for which she was thankful for. She was scared that she would die by their hand.

She pulled her backpack higher on her shoulder, hoping that she could find a place to rest. Her feet were aching from walking for so long. ___ wondered if the skeleton brothers had even woken up, yet. There was no way to keep track of time in the Underground. There was no sun. There was no day, nor was there night. That was one thing she hated about the Underground. There was no concept of time.

Eventually, she decided that she would have a sit down by one of the bridges. It was abandoned, save for several Echo flowers. She had no clue what they were but found them pretty. They were a little creepy, though. ___ had discovered fast that they mimic whatever was last said. The ones she was sitting by were humming at her, a familiar tune. She appreciated the warmth of the voice, and childish nature. One flower, however, was not humming.

As she sat down, she could hear the whispers from it.

"I didn't think I'd kill Undyne that quick. What a disappointment."

___ realized, just from that flower, that the last person to walk through this area was Frisk, two years ago. The voice belonged to a younger murderer. She must have been humming a tune when she came to that realization.

Someone had died where ___ was sitting.

She looked around the area for any signs of fighting. The bridge was rather damaged in some places, and there was dust scattered about the area, untouched by the waterfalls and rain drops. ___ wondered if that pile was from Undyne. While she didn't know who Undyne was, she felt upset knowing that another Monster had died just feet away from her. She pulled her knees to her chest, gazing at the lazily moving dust particles. She really hated Frisk.

She reached into her backpack to pull out the jar full of Toriel's dust. ___ placed it beside her, finding little comfort in another individual. At least, she wasn't completely alone. She had Undyne and Toriel to keep her company. At the moment, though, she really missed Flowey. While the little flower was a dick, he at least spoke to her, and kept her company. She wondered if he would come when called. Would he hear her?

She didn't even have to say anything.

The buttercup flower sprouted from the ground beside her, gazing wearily at the Echo flowers. He nervous looked up and down the bridged area before finally speaking to her.

"Howdy," he received her attention, "I see you have finally escaped from the Smiley Trashbag and his dimwitted brother! tHAt's gOoD!"

Flowey laughed maniacally at that, receiving nothing but an eyeroll from ___. The (h/c)-haired girl didn't really care for Flowey's words. The flower finally stopped laughing, looking at the waterfall her feet were dangling over.

"Why'd you stop here? You're not very far from their house, you know."

___ shrugged, "I'm kinda hungry," she admitted, "I haven't eaten for a while. I just don't want to waste all of my energy in one go, you know?"

Flowey would have shrugged if he could.

"We're near the garbage dump," he suggested, "Maybe you can find something to eat there. There's always new things."

___ sent the flower a dirty look. It wasn't a bad idea, but she didn't feel particularly hungry for garbage. To each his own, though. She touched the water with her fingers, finding it surprisingly warm. It was almost pleasantly so.

Flowey must have missed her, because he continued the conversation on his own. He didn't like the silence, and to be fair, neither did she.

"You know that bastard Sans is looking for you, right?"

"I figured."

"Then, why are you just sitting here? Do you want to be caught, idiot?"

___ shrugged, "After reading Frisk's journal, all I want is to fix everything, and I can't exactly do that. I can't bring people back to life. I can't Reset like she could."

Flowey shook his petals.

"You don't need to Reset. You don't even have the Soul of Determination."

She sent him a questioning look, confused.

"Ugh, you don't even know about that," he rolled his eyes, "The reason Frisk could Reset the timelines in the first place is because of their Soul. They had the Soul of Determination. Your Soul doesn't have a color. You're probably worthless."

___ looked at her reflection in the water, not recognizing herself. Her hair was relatively dull and unkempt. Her face was pale and damaged in some places from her fight with Sans. Her (e/c) eyes didn't seem to shine too much, either.

"I am worthless, aren't I?"

Flowey let out a sigh, "Not really," he grumbled, "If you were completely worthless, I would have ditched you, already."

"I'm feeling pretty worthless."

"Feeling and being are two different things, dumbass."

As ___ gazed at her reflection, she swore she saw something begin to form behind her. She wasn't sure what it was. It looked like a black mass with a pale face.

She saw its mouth open.

"___?"

Flowey called her name, gaining her attention once again. She looked up, at the flower, finding him gazing down the length of the bridge. She followed his gaze, finding Sans there, staring at her. She expected his eye sockets to be dark, or the left one ablaze like how it was when he was mad or using his magic, but no. He looked at her with his white pinprick and a concerned expression. She looked away from her, returning her eyes to the water. The mass from before had disappeared.

Flowey disappeared into the ground as Sans approached. He didn't come running at her like she expected. In fact, he didn't even come off as hostile. Not that she would fight him, even if he was. The skeleton hesitated beside her for a second before sitting down where Flowey had been seconds before.

He looked at her, she noticed that from his reflection in the water. He looked a little annoyed, but nothing too bad. ___ gripped the sleeves of Papyrus' sweater, still not removing her gaze from the water. She waited until Sans spoke first. She knew that he was going to threaten to harm her for leaving, like he said he would before. But, there was nothing, at first.

He finally investigated the water like she did, gazing at her face in it.

She looked hopeless, abandoned.

"kid?"

When he finally spoke, she was almost surprised.

"you read the engravings, didn'tcha?"

___ looked up at him, finally. Sans was still staring at her reflection in the water, waiting for a response from her. She wrapped her arms around her torso, as if she was cold. The gentle humming from the Echo flowers had ceased, she realized. Instead, they were chanting, repeating what Sans had said. He seemed unbothered by them, but they were starting to creep her out.

"so, you know that the Barrier needs seven human Souls to break?"

Still, she didn't respond.

Sans tucked his hands into his pockets, finally looking at her instead of the water. She absentmindedly began to pull at the grass and dirt that was forming on the edge of the bridge.

"I have to die," she finally whispered, "If I want to free you all, I have to die. Sans- I- I don't know if I can do that."

He let out a long-winded sigh, kicking his shoes off onto the ground between them. Once he was done with that, he put his boney feet into the warm water. ___ watched him, holding herself so she wouldn't fall to pieces.

"no one's gonna force you, sweetheart," he finally said, "as much as i wanna take Pap to the surface, i'd rather be down here and trapped forever than kill an innocent."

___ watched as he kicked his feet in the water, trying not to get his pants wet. Sans looked off in the distance, as if trying to catch a glimpse of someone who was there. After a few seconds, she decided to ask the one question that had been bothering her.

"Do you hate me?"

Sans sighed again. He seemed good at that, for someone without lungs. He didn't answer her question for a while. He turned his skull, so he could look at her. Instead of answering, he grabbed her foot and began to untie her shoe.

"here," he said, "put your feet in the water, relax a little, kid. you were pretty hurt by my attacks back there, and you're not all healed up."

She didn't argue with him. Sans quickly got her left shoe off and put her foot in the warm water. As he began to untie her other shoe, she wondered if she should explain that she was all healed.

"Sans," she gently grabbed his hand, receiving his attention, "I'm already healed, for the most part, I think."

His fingers froze on her laces, "oh, did Pap get to you?"

She wondered if she should tell him about the incident in the garage. He noticed her silence and stopped what he was doing to look up at her.

"kid?"

She decided she probably should.

If he found out later, he would kill her.

"If I tell you something, will you promise not to kill me?"


	9. the mirror soul

She had never seen Sans so emotionless. Her question had struck him off-guard, completely. He had not responded before to her question of whether he hated her, and now she was asking him to make a promise not to kill her. Sans hated making promises. Always did, always will. He knew they were a trap, he knew that if he took it, he either must break it or break himself. He could not do it again, especially not after Frisk.

"i don't make promises, sweetheart."

___'s heart beat furiously in her chest, but she did not avert her gaze. The skeleton pulled her right shoe off before looking back at her, again. Sans really didn't want to make a promise. Truth be told, he was scared of killing her. He was scared of how Papyrus would react. He was scared of her retaliating.

"Please?"

He let out a sigh.

"i promise i won't kill ya," he said, "but, if it's as bad as i'm expecting, then..."

His eye sockets went dark at that. ___ shivered at the sight, not wanting to cause any problems. It was bad enough she felt like she could trust Sans enough to tell him this bit of info. She didn't want to regret giving him that trust. She wondered how she could even trust him in the first place. He had almost killed her once before and made it very clear he hated her.

"Please," she tried again, "Please, Sans. I'm trying to trust you here, please give me a reason to trust you."

"why would you wanna trust me?"

She wasn't expecting that response.

"Because, uh, I want you to trust me, maybe?"

Sans kicked his feet in the water, splashing the flowers that were growing from it. ___ watched him do so, nervous. After a minute of solid silence only filled with the sound of kicking water, he looked toward her, a lazy grin on his face.

"fine, i promise."

He relented. As long as they were Underground, there was no point not to get along with her. She had proven to be trustworthy so far. Not to mention, if she wanted to tell him something that she thought had to be important, it added to her credibility.

___ nervously looked at her hands, twiddling her thumbs while trying to think of what to say. She wanted to tell the truth, but it seemed so absurd. Then again, there she sat Underground beneath fake stars and glowing waters next to a walking, talking skeleton. She hadn't believed in Monsters before Frisk returned to the surface. Maybe what had happened wasn't so unbelievable?

"Well,"

She wasn't sure how to start.

"It started in your garage," she said, "I was awake, sorta, but I felt someone touching my back. He was whispering, nothing that I could make out. But my back was feeling better, and as he touched my back, I heard him ask a question in a language I didn't understand."

Sans let out a sigh, gently running his hand over his skull. His white pupils had finally returned at that, though his smile had faltered. He gave her a strange look. She wondered if it was concern. Still, his silence scared her even more.

The flowers around them echoed and distorted what she had said, giving their own versions of her memory. They weren't as pretty they were before, or as amazing. Now, they just seemed creepy.

Sans let out a long sigh, gently touching her shoulder.

"you didn't understand what he said?"

He sounded suspicious when he asked that. ___ couldn't blame him.

"Like, I didn't understand what he said when he said it, but something inside me let me know that he had asked if I could hear him."

Sans spared the water a single look before removing his feet from it quickly. ___ watched him, confused. Just as quickly as he had pulled himself away, he grabbed her arm and yanked her away from the water, too. She squirmed under his grasp, and when he released her, she rubbed her arm hastily. She knew that a bruise would form there. ___ didn't understand why, at least, not until the Echo flowers had become completely silent.

The skeleton beside her looked around the area, as if trying to find something. But, nothing came around. Occasionally, however, one odd flower would start saying things that neither Sans or ___ had said, and in that same language that she didn't recognize nor understand.

"i think we should get home."

He spared no time in pulling his shoes back on, urging ___ to do the same. As she grabbed her own pair of canvas shoes, she noticed the figure in her reflection in the water. It had returned. Once Sans finished tying the laces of his sneakers, he looked toward her, finding that she was leaning closer and closer to the water. Something had compelled her to touch the surface.

Something told him not to let her do that.

Without thinking, his left eye lit and a row of bones appeared in the water, causing her to jump back. ___ stared, wide eyed and frightened. She quickly looked at Sans, who was clenching his teeth. His gaze didn't leave the water, which had begun to bubble viciously. He spared her a single look, enough to say:

"grab your stuff."

His command was enough. ___ grabbed the jar full of Toriel's dust, shoving it in her pack, along with her canvas shoes. Once she had finished, Sans grabbed her empty hand. That action in itself was enough to confuse ___, but not nearly as much as the next.

She heard him whisper, "please work."

The next thing she knew, she blinked and was in the living room of Sans' house. ___ stumbled, falling onto the carpet, dropping her backpack in the process. Sans even seemed out of it. He needed to lean against the wall to catch his breath. His left eye was still ablaze, flashing between blue and yellow. It was beautiful in a strange, dangerous way.

She watched him put his back against the wall and slide down until he was sitting against it. He put his head back against it, closing his eyes while he breathed. Once his eye closed, the fire dissipated. ___ watched as his chest raised and dropped in time with his breathing. Little droplets of sweat were gently dripping from his skull. He looked utterly exhausted.

She reached out to touch his shoulder, to make sure he was okay, but the sound of a door slamming open caused her to jump back. Papyrus must have heard the movement from his room, because he came hurtling down the stairs toward them. ___ was surprised when the taller skeleton scooped her up and held her up to the light, eyes filled with joyous tears.

"OH, HUMAN, I WAS SO WORRIED??"

Once he got a good look of her face, though, he stopped screaming at her. He gently touched her face with his hand, pulling back onto to look at a sticky red substance on his fingers. Papyrus looked at her in worry.

"What happened? You are bleeding!"

___ copied what he did, touching her face to find that there was a rather large cut across her cheek. She couldn't remember what it was from. Sans looked up from the wall he was leaning against, a tired grin spread across his face.

"oops."

"SANS!"

"hey, if it scars over, she'll look pretty bad to the bone."

"OH MY GOD!!"

Papyrus spared no time sitting her down on the lumpy green couch and pulling band-aids out of thin air. While he was patching her face up, though, ___ had a hard time taking her eyes from Sans. The smaller skeleton was still sitting beside the door, staring at the two of them (at least, that's what she thought). His eye sockets were dark. She wondered if he was ever happy enough to just let them be?

Maybe he couldn't control it.

She had no clue.

After Papyrus was done, though, he seemed to cheer up. Sans called his brother's name multiple times (to which Papyrus ignored due to the pun from before). Eventually, however, the younger brother looked at his older one, glaring. Sans grinned at him.

"can ya help me up the stairs? i'm feelin' bone-tired."

"YOU CAN GET UP THERE YOURSELF!"

___ felt a little guilty at that response. She pulled Papyrus' doting hands away from her face, looking toward Sans who seemed a little disappointed that he would have to go upstairs by himself. He really did look dead on his feet.

"H-hey, I can help, Sans."

Both skeletons looked surprised at her offer. She wanted to actually help him, the bonehead that had hurt her before, and the one that had caused the wound on her face right then. Papyrus let out a small sigh, and Sans' grin widened at her offer. He held his arms up, as if to say, 'carry me, slave.'

The thought of picking the smaller skeleton up was tempting. He was around her height, maybe an inch or two shorter. He looked chubby, but she knew it was only his hoodie. ___ put her hands under his arms, where his armpits would be if he had flesh and dragged him off the ground. Surprisingly, he was rather light. She figured it was because he was all bone. Still, he was a hundred pounds of bones. Sans' grin widened as she placed his feet on the ground.

He leaned into her touch while she helped him climb the stairs. Even while only holding his back and shoulders, she could feel his weakness. He was struggling just to walk up a small flight of stairs. There couldn't be more than ten steps, and he was heaving. Had teleporting taken that much out of him? Papyrus watched from the couch, wearily. He hated when Sans was babied, but only because he believed his older brother needed to learn things on his own.

___ felt guilty, though. She had caused Sans to waste all his energy trying to bring her home. He had a decent amount of it, but she still felt hesitant to ask him directly. When he attacked her, he showed no limit in his energy. Had he trained that up? Or was teleporting just something that took away all energy as need be?

She didn't want to ask him right now.

She walked passed Papyrus' bedroom, assuming the second door was Sans. ___ noticed flames blazing from beneath the door, and she sent a fatigued look at Sans. He shrugged, lazily opening his own bedroom door, allowing the two access to it. His room was not what she expected. It was messy. A few garments of clothes were strewn here and there, trash mixed in. His bed was the only neat thing in the room. She assumed Papyrus had just changed his sheets that day.

___ hauled Sans over to his bed, allowing him to plop down on it. Once his butt hit the mattress, he laid back and closed his eye sockets again. She looked around the room once again, seeing odd things here and there. Somethings she expected (like the joke books), other things, she didn't. Sans had a telescope perched beside his window, though there was no visible sky. He had science books scattered among his joke ones.

An old, ripped, and stained hoodie laid on top of his dresser, folded neatly, despite everything else. A few spare sweaters and t-shirts sat in neat piles on top of his dresser, as well. An odd set of basketball shorts were thrown on the ground, looking unused. His room looked untouched, she observed.

Had he not been living here?

___ decided to pick up the room a little, hoping to ease Sans' mind. She threw all the dirtied clothes in a pile, and all the trash in another pile. She put his clothes away in the drawers, except for the stained sweatshirt.

When she turned to check on him, she found Sans fast asleep, shoes on and everything. ___ let out a long sigh, tiptoeing toward him. She tugged his high tops off, dropping them onto the flooring and kicking them into a corner where a pair of old slippers sat. ___ also removed his jacket, hanging it on his doorknob. If he was going to sleep, he could at least be relaxed. The last thing she did was pull the lone blanket up over the young skeleton, tucking him in slightly.

She hoped he slept well.

It was the most terrifying thing ___ had ever heard.

She had been fast asleep on the couch, cuddled up with the blanket that Papyrus had given her. For the first time, she had been sleeping well. Flowey wasn't around to pester her, and Sans wasn't hogging the couch.

But, he woke up screaming.

She had never heard him raise his voice before, let alone scream.

When he had begun, she had jolted awake. She thought he was going to kill her. Her first thought was to protect her face. Sans was finally going to kill her, like he had threatened multiple times.

Yet, he was nowhere near her.

It took ___ a solid minute to realize that he was screaming in terror. She wrapped the blanket around her shoulders and stepped down from the couch. Her bare feet touched the striped rug, enjoying the warmth it provided. Still, she felt worried for Sans. He had never seemed this terrified.

___ gripped the banister on the stairs, guiding herself up slowly. She could hear thrashing and banging as she neared his door. It made her scared to go in. Sans was violent. She already knew that. He had nearly killed her.

Do I wanna risk it?

She hesitated outside his door, fingers touching the handle, but unable to get a proper grip on it. ___ listened for a moment, trying to tell if he was calming down. His thrashing continued, and she even heard sobbing noises begin. She decided she would go in.

___ turned the handle and pushed the door open. Sans was sitting up in his bed, gripping his skull. She could see his left eye ablaze, and how his fingers were digging into his skull. Sans grated his teeth together, and was curled up in a ball, trying to protect himself from something unknown.

She took a risky step toward him, holding the blanket tighter around her shoulders. ___ was terrified of what he would do. Still, she approached him. Sans looked up at her, horrified. He pushed himself away from her, closer to the wall. She froze, putting her (s/t) hands up in surrender.

She noticed that he had tears streaming down his face. ___ wondered if nightmares were common among Monsters. It seemed that if Papyrus wasn't having one, Sans was. She thought of calling his name but couldn't form it.

He stared at her with wide eyes, as if waiting for her to speak.

___ sat on the ground beside his bed, staring up at him. As she called his name at last, Sans jumped, moving his arm as he did so and caused bones to jag out of the flooring. One particular one pierced through her shoulder, but she continued to sit there, trying not to cause too much noise.

Apparently, Sans had woken Papyrus too. The taller skeleton had been standing in the doorway the whole time, eyes wide. He let out a concerned shout when the bone attack had pierced right through ___'s shoulder. With his shout of surprise, Sans had rescinded his attacks, eyes wide.

It was like he came to.

"oh my god."

Once the bones had disappeared, ___ fell forward, gripping her shoulder. Her face struck the hardwood, but she refused to pass out. Not again. Papyrus took an unsure step forward, and Sans shakily reached his hand out toward her, to check if she was okay.

Only, she had jumped away from his hand.

Despite not having much energy, ___ had put everything she could into getting away from Sans. Her back was against the opposite wall, and she remained hunched over, gripping her shoulder. But, her eyes were glaring at Sans, filled with tears of betrayal. She had been innocent, but he had broken his promise.

Neither skeleton dared to move.

___ was violently shaking, trying to stop the flowing blood. Her eyes never left Sans, who was cautiously staring back. He still had tears falling from his eyes, even though the initial shock of his nightmare had worn off.

"_-__?"

She was only barely aware that Sans had called her name. Papyrus had disappeared elsewhere, probably to find the medical kit, again. But, Sans knew that it wasn't enough to heal her completely.

He sighed.

"kid?"

He tried again.

Still, she didn't respond.

Her eyes faltered as she leaned forward, gripping her shoulder that was throbbing painfully. Sans went to call her name again but found her chuckling lightly below her breath. He froze.

Did I break her?

He watched as her eyes looked up to him again, hard, and angry. His Soul pounded away behind his ribcage, and he wondered if she could hear it.

"___?"

She gritted her teeth.

"I knew you hated me."

He hadn't been expecting that retort.

"I thought that maybe things were getting better between you and I," she leaned her forehead against his flooring, "But obviously, you still hate me. You still don't trust me. I get that I'm new, we still don't know each other yet, but I haven't given you a single reason to attack me as often as you do."

"it's not you."

Her breath caught in her throat at his words.

"it's never you, hun." Sans added on, "i don't want you dead. i don't want to hurt you, but i'm not healthy. things happen, even if i don't want them to. now, come here and let me try to heal you."

Sans wasn't good at healing. He never was and probably never would be. But, he felt confident enough in trying to at least stop her bleeding until Papyrus got back. His younger brother was a much better healer, and it was chalked up to his undamaged Soul. Sans' Soul was far from whole.

He unconsciously touched his ribcage, right above where his Soul was. ___ had a hard time getting to her feet, and he noticed just how much blood was streaming down from her shoulder. She stumbled over to his bed before collapsing onto the blankets. She turned her head just enough to look up at Sans, as if telling him to get to work.

The skeleton gently ripped the sleeve of her shirt (or rather, the sweater that she was borrowing from Papyrus), revealing her shoulder and whole arm. Sans noticed that her arm was littered with scars as well as little notes in ink.

His pinpricks looked over the inkings, reading what they said. They discussed the theory of the human Soul, something that he thought only Monsters learned about.

"Sans."

She called his name, gaining his attention. Sans realized that she was literally bleeding out in front of him and was waiting. He shook his head, gently putting his hand above her back, focusing his magic on it. Green flames begin to form, licking at her back and shoulders. Sans began to feel very tired and annoyed at this. He hated how much energy healing took, especially when he didn't have an abundant amount.

He watched as ___'s skin began to pull itself together, closing shortly after. Once it had completely closed, he pulled his hand away.

"i hope you don't mind, but i think i need to check your soul for damage. i really pierced you."

Without hesitating, she sat up and summoned her Soul. Sans stared at her. She had been so quick to do it, quicker than Frisk had been. The fact she even knew how to bring it forward without being in a FIGHT was amazing. ___ suddenly realized what she did and went bright red.

"O-oh, oops."

"you know some stuff about Souls, i see."

"Well, uh..."

"you studied them on the surface."

Sans seemed to already know that. ___ had never said anything about it before. Even the inkings on her arm didn't say exactly what she knew. She hastily buried her face in his sheets, hoping he'd drop the subject. However, he did not.

"but they don't teach that in human colleges, do they?" he seemed to know something she didn't, "you've been teaching yourself since you were twelve, right?"

The accuracy of his questions was concerning. ___ let out a groan.

"When did you become an expert on my life story?"

Due to her face still being buried in Sans' sheets, it came out all garbled and difficult to understand. Yet, the skeleton seemed to know.

"i'll tell you later, kid."

She would accept that. ___ was way too tired to argue and basically beg for answers. Sans probably knew most of it from the info on her arms. Or maybe when he used magic on her, he could see into her past. She wasn't too bothered by it.

Who cares if he knew about her Soul studies?

She did.

It really did bother her.

___ grumbled, pulling his sheet over her head. Sans chuckled, resting his hand on her head. Still, though, he watched her Soul closely as it beat in tune with her heartbeat. Even though he knew it wasn't appropriate, all he wanted to do was hold it in his hands and feel it. It was the strangest Soul he had ever encountered. It was clear, almost. He could see the faint undertones of purple, probably her true Soul color.

After a moment, she came out of her hiding place, grinning at Sans. He was so absorbed in his thoughts of touching her Soul, that he didn't even notice her movement. ___ cupped her hands around it, careful to not touch the actual Soul. He watched as she brought it closer to him.

"I have a Mirror Soul," she admitted, "It mirrors what other Souls give off. It was an accident that caused it, but it does its job. Do you wanna touch it?"

Sans' face went bright blue at her question. If he could hide away, he would have. However, just as he went to answer, a large gasp echoed through the room. Papyrus had returned and had heard what she had asked.

"WHAT KIND OF PERVERTED NONSENSE IS THIS!?"

___ looked over to him, grinning.

"Sans knows I'm joking, right?"

He didn't.

He awkwardly laughed, rubbing the back of his skull.

"of course, you're joking, Souls aren't something you let people touch silly nilly."

She nodded, "Yep! Since they're everything that we are, it'd be very, uh, strange to do that." her face became pink, slightly, "It's really intimate and trusting to let someone touch your Soul."

Papyrus came over to check on her shoulder, finding it completely healed. He chalked it up to Sans actually healing for once but wondered if it was done entirely and properly. Since ___ wasn't feeling any particular pain, though, he assumed it was a job well done. Still, she seemed to want to talk about her Soul.

"Do you wanna see what it does?"

Sans had to admit, he was very curious. He had never heard of a Mirror Soul before. He nodded, trying not to seem so desperate. His face was already a bright blue, it couldn't get much worse.

"Okay! Here, pull your Soul out."

He froze.

"no."

"But I can't show you if you don't-"

"i won't show you my Soul."

"Sans-"

He seemed really bothered by the subject, ___ noted. Papyrus quickly tried to change the focus from him, squealing.

"How about mine, human ___?"

He allowed his Soul to leave his ribcage, forming in his hands as he held them out to her. ___ grinned, putting her hands (and therefore, her Soul) closer to his. As the two Souls neared each other, Sans realized how her Soul seemed to directly reflect Papyrus'. Its color changed to match his, and it even looked like a Monster Soul. The only difference was the purple ring along the outside of hers. While her Soul was reflecting Papyrus', her attitude seemed to change slightly.

Her face contorted into something similar to his – excitement and bliss.

"IT'S REALLY COOl, ISN'T IT?"

Even her voice had changed.

"IT'S VERY COOL!!"

Sans, however, didn't like this closeness.

He hastily used his magic to take control of ___'s Soul, turning it dark blue. He brought it closer to him, allowing it to hover over his hands, definitely too close for comfort. Papyrus, disappointed, allowed his Soul to fade away.

___, however, was extremely flustered at his moves.

His eye was glowing menacingly as he held her Soul, staring at it. ___ gripped at her chest, the heavy feeling behind it rather uncomfortable.

"Sans- be, be careful with her Soul."

___ suddenly grinned at Sans.

"Well, if you're going to play with MY Soul."

She held her hand out toward Sans' ribcage, and he felt his own Soul reacting to it. It felt as if her Soul was completely familiar, that this whole situation was familiar. He immediately released her Soul, allowing it to return to its safe cavity inside her chest.

His own Soul, though, was beating furiously away.

The last time it had reacted like that, he was on the surface, in a previous timeline. He had been with a girl, and they-

His eyes went dark.

"say, kid, what's your last name?"


	10. resurrection

"say, kid, what's your last name?"

The question had been a surprising one. Sans didn't seem to be particularly interested in her life before then. He hadn't asked questions like that. She wondered if it was because she was vulnerable. Was it because he hurt her? She didn't know. But, the question was a strange one.

The Monsters didn't seem as focused on last names as humans were. Those on the surface were referred to as their last names, and they were usually identified by them as well. It gave importance to the family line. The Underground, however, seemed more lenient on the issue. Sans and Papyrus didn't have a last name, as far as she knew. So, why did the older brother want to know hers?

She didn't answer his question right away. Sans looked toward the wall, embarrassed. His face was still lit a pale blue from before, but his eyes were darker. His pupils were almost completely gone. ___ knew that he was bothered by something.

She let out a sigh.

"Well, my name is ___ ___."

Sans' phalanges dug into his sheets and grit his teeth. He looked bothered, extremely so. She noticed a pale light coming from his chest, where the human heart would be. Papyrus stood to the side, confused at the interaction between the two.

"i was only joking before, i didn't think you really did study the Soul."

The way he worded it was concerning. It was something very particular. ___ watched him speak. His face was getting darker by the second as he spoke mainly to himself.

"is this what you look like two years and a few months after Frisk returns?"

___ was extremely confused.

"you cut your hair," Sans reached up and touched the tips of her locks, "and you look so different... how did i not see it?"

His fingers hesitated above her cheek, but he quickly removed it. ___ and Papyrus were both confused. But, the latter was the first to speak between the two of them.

"UH, Sans?"

The older skeleton looked toward his brother, finally realizing what he had been saying. Sans' face grew into a dark shade of blue.

"i didn't mean to sound so... i'm just..."

Without a warning, Sans disappeared in his place. ___ screeched in surprise, falling back into his now empty spot. She hadn't even realized that she was leaning against him. Papyrus let out a sigh, touching his face in an annoyed way.

"I am very sorry, human," he said, "When Sans gets embarrassed, he disappears. He will be back!! I promise."

___ felt annoyed at his disappearance, too.

"Anyway!! Let us get you cleaned up, and maybe some breakfast, huh?"

Papyrus wasn't a terrible cook, surprisingly. His spaghetti was rather disgusting, but anything else he cooked was actually edible. She wondered if he had been cooking for long.

He had decided to cook her pancakes. Though, according to the wall clock, it was only a little past four. It was probably too early to have so much sugar, but ___ was hungry, so she supposed it didn't matter too much. The pancakes were rather fluffy and tasted slightly of strawberry. Papyrus wasn't sure why as he didn't have any strawberries but decided to roll with it anyway.

By the time Sans returned home, Papyrus had already gotten dressed for the day and decided to have a walk around town. ___ didn't mind being at home by herself, especially when it meant she could read Frisk's journal more.

Though, the journal was rather terrifying.

___ sat on the couch, curled up in the new blanket that Papyrus had given her. Though her shoulder didn't hurt much, it ached slightly from the cold. She made sure to stay warm. Papyrus had promised to bring her home some new clothes to wear.

When Sans walked in the door, he was rather embarrassed to see her sitting on the couch. The moment he saw her, his face got flustered all over again. She didn't notice him, either, which added to his irritation.

He scuttled over to her, noticing that she was deeply fascinated with what she was reading. Sans subconsciously told himself that it wasn't weird, she had always been like that. Though, he knew that he shouldn't have had that knowledge.

He gently sat down on the green couch beside her, gently nudging her with his elbow. ___'s eyes widened, and she quickly hid the journal behind her back and looked toward the skeleton. Her face was bright red, and she seemed dead scared.

"hey, kid, calm down," he chuckled, "you look like you just saw a ghost."

"More like a spooky, scary skeleton." She rebutted.

He didn't get it.

Sans shrugged, going to tuck his hands in his pockets, only to remember he wasn't wearing his jacket. Instead, he grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest. At least he still had his sweater on, not that he got cold.

"so, about this morning..."

___ looked confused again. Sans wasn't sure he wanted to go on.

"you've been reading Frisk's journal, huh?"

It was more of a statement than a question. The (h/c)-haired girl awkwardly pulled the journal from its hiding spot, placing it on her lap. Sans barely acknowledged it, which she was grateful for. Still, his pinpricks were focused entirely on her, which made her uncomfortable. She could feel her heart pounding away in her chest.

"you're not in trouble, don't think that you are, please."

A flicker of worry passed over Sans' face, but it was soon replaced with the neutral expression from before. ___ let out a small sigh, snuggling the blanket closer to her body.

"but, you know about the timelines, right? you've read about the Resets."

She wanted to say yes, but something told her not to. The way he was bringing about the topic made her mind spin. It had to be important. It had to be. And if it was related to the conversation they had in the morning, then...

He took her silence as confirmation.

"there was a timeline in which we all reached the surface."

___ opened her mouth to say something, to ask something, but Papyrus had entered the room just at that moment. Sans immediately looked away, focusing instead of his brother.

"hey, Pap," he said, "where have you been?"

"OH! SANS! You are back all ready?"

Sans waved what Papyrus replied off, instead waiting for his brother to answer his question. Papyrus had brought home several paper bags and was easily carrying them – a thought that made Sans nervous. He felt his bother wasn't one hundred percent healed yet.

He placed several of them down, just enough so that he could close the front door properly.

"I was out shopping for human ___!" Papyrus said, "I bought her some clothes, a few sheet sets. I went grocery shopping too, I hope that is all right, brother!"

Sans seemed to cringe at his words.

"Pap, you know we're not exactly rolling in the money right now, right?"

Papyrus nervously fiddled with one of the bags, and ___ felt severely guilty.

"I- I know, Sans," he said, "But I was thinking that we could give the human our spare room. ___ really needs a proper bed if she is going to stay here!"

Sans rubbed the back of his skull.

"i guess we could do that. i'll have to clean it up, though."

"LEAVE THAT TO ME, BROTHER!! YOU HAVE FOUR JOBS, THE LEAST I CAN DO IS CLEAN UP THE OLD ROOM!"

"i dunno, bro, you might hurt yourself."

Papyrus looked annoyed.

"I will not! ___ can help too!"

That didn't seem to make Sans feel any better. He looked toward ___, who was staring at the bags around Papyrus' feet, a small blush dusting her cheeks. Sans, deciding it was too late to return anything now that she's seen it, stood up from his place beside her. He snagged a few of the bags and brought them close to the pretty (h/c)-haired girl.

Sans began to pull things out of the bag, with Papyrus standing nearby, excited. He handed them one-by-one to ___, allowing her to look at everything. Papyrus had gotten her an assortment of sweaters (mostly too large for her). Occasionally there would be a pair of pants thrown in, or tall socks. At the bottom of the bag, however, there was a fancy scarf, much like his, except violet in color, probably to match her Soul.

After she had gone through all the bags full of clothes, Papyrus suddenly gasped. Sans looked up at his brother while ___ began to pull on one of the many sweaters.

"what's up, bro?"

"I FORGOT TO GET HER A JACKET!! HUMANS GET COLD, DO THEY NOT?"

Sans shrugged.

"i'll just give her my old one. i'll have to wash it first, though. it's really stained."

Her mind immediately went to the blue jacket that had been folded neatly on his dresser, stained with some red substance. His old jacket wasn't too much different from his newer one. It was just without all the details and extra padding. The colors might have been slightly different, too.

Papyrus felt relieved before disappearing into the kitchen to put away the rest of what he had bought. ___ hoped that he bought more pancake mix, so they could have more later. His pancakes were delicious.

Once the younger skeleton had disappeared, ___ looked back at Sans.

"What were you saying before?"

Sans hesitated. He looked like he didn't want to talk about it anymore. ___ was nervous to push him to tell her, especially because it seemed he was annoyed by something. Sans let out a sigh.

"look, kid."

He paused, again.

"that timeline was hell. do you know how it feels to have everything taken from you? you finally found peace and happiness, and then it's all gone the next second?"

Sans looked down at the journal on her lap, looking like he was agitated. But, his answer still didn't explain.

"i met someone on the surface."

She watched as his left hand reached toward the journal on her lap, and for a second, she wondered if he was left handed. She hadn't noticed it before, but it was very possible. Not to mention, his left eye was the one that lit up, too. It made sense.

Sans pulled the journal from her lap, flipping through a few pages before stopping on one she hadn't read yet. He turned the book around, facing the pages toward her. There was a whole section dedicated to the surface.

"6th run, pacifistic."

She read the title of the page and grimaced. Sans noticed it and nodded, as if telling her to read on.

"I mentioned before that I had gone pacifist on this Reset. I wanted to give the Monsters a taste of freedom. Maybe, if they realized how bad the humans on the surface were, they would prefer it Underground. Maybe I was the bigger Monster.

Once on the surface, I lived with Sans and Papyrus. Mom had a feeling of foreboding around me, and I can't blame her. At least Sans knew what I did and accepted that I moved on and freed them all. I had told him that it was the last Reset. I feel bad for lying. But, at the same time, I had believed it would be.

I went to school. I hated school.

Papyrus got a job at a local restaurant, and he enjoyed it. It was nice seeing him happy. He was learning to cook in a professional environment. Maybe he'd learn to make something edible.

Sans enrolled at the local community college. He wanted to take science classes, I think. Apparently, he was a scientist when he was younger. Probably worked with Gaster. He attended biology and human anatomy classes in the morning, and work from noon until six every evening.

It seemed his work ethic changed when he hit the surface.

Mom got hired at a school to help with preschoolers. She loved working with them. Dad, on the other hand, was always busy with the Monster politics. At least he was living with mom again.

Alphys and Undyne moved in together. Mettaton had disappeared once he hit the surface, but I don't really care. He was annoying. I should have killed him.

Did I mention Sans made a human friend?

She's nice enough, but she's very suspicious about me. I wonder if he told her what happened. Though, whenever I say anything related to timelines, she looks confused.

She knows a lot about human Souls.

Sans says she's studied them since she was young.

I can't let her see mine, then.

I told Sans I don't like her, but he brushed me off. He really likes her. I think they might get together, but he's too shy to say anything. Makes me sick.

I hate it here. I should Reset."

___ gripped the journal, nervously. Sans was looking toward the floor, obvious embarrassment written across his face. The (h/c)-haired girl pulled the book from his grasp fully, placing it on the couch between them. She could feel her own face burn slightly at the revelation. He didn't even need to directly say it.

Sans and she knew each other in a previous timeline.

She felt bad for not remembering.

"So, you, uh-?"

You liked me?

Sans looked up at her shyly, trying to hide behind his own boney hands. He gave a brief nod, inhaling as he did so.

"a little more than like, honestly."

He loved her.

She felt her face heat up, and she looked away from him quickly. Sans moved the journal away from him, pushing it on to the floor.

"Did- did I-?"

He shrugged.

"i guess you did."

She bit her lip, unconsciously gaining his attention.

"Do you still-?"

He didn't answer. She took it as a yes.

Another thought was eating away in the back of her mind. She didn't want to make things worse by asking, but she was genuinely curious.

"If you love me," she began, slowly, "Then why did you try to kill me?"

Sans appeared to be expecting that question. He let out a long sigh, leaning forward. The way he sat hid his face from her view, and ___ didn't like that. She wanted to see his face when he spoke to her.

___ touched his shoulder, gently pulling his attention back to her. His pinpricks stared up at her, wavering with every silent second that passed. He sat back, careful not to touch her. Sans looked bothered.

He sighed, again.

"truth be told, kid," he began, "i just thought you were another kid. you look so different from my time on the surface. your hair is shorter, and your Soul feels unfamiliar. i honestly thought you were Frisk when you walked out of the Ruins. you had their necklace, and you wore a sweater similar to hers. i didn't know. even now i'm not one hundred percent sure."

"Why not?"

"you didn't Fall, you jumped."

"So?"

Sans looked uncomfortable. He rubbed the back of his head. That action seemed to be a bad habit of his.

"did you really jump down to save us? or were you hoping to kill yourself?"

Something about the way he asked was humbling. Though it sounded unconcerned, ___ could tell that he was genuinely worried about it. She guiltily rubbed her wrist. He noticed.

"I haven't tried to kill myself in a while, Sans."

He knew her better than she thought. Of course, he did, she had to remind herself. He was in love with her.

"how long?"

He grabbed the hand that was rubbing her wrist. She looked at him, eyes wide.

"Since I found Frisk on the mountainside."

He let out yet another sigh. Was this another habit? He didn't even have to breathe yet he sighed so much. Sans leaned against his hand, peering at her with his eye sockets.

"you don't remember me."

It wasn't a question.

She nodded.

"you don't remember me, but your Soul does."

She sent him a questioning look. Sans looked toward the kitchen, where Papyrus had begun humming. He pointed up toward his room, motioning for her to follow. ___ wasn't sure she wanted to. Though he admitted his old feelings for her, she couldn't help but not trust him, still. Yet, deep inside, she knew she could. She had told herself before that she trusted him.

She stood up from the comfortable couch, abandoning her blanket. Sans took her hand, surprisingly. She sent him a look, but he didn't seem to notice as he lead her up the stairs toward his room. He kicked his door open, motioning for her to enter first. She did. He followed behind before sinking down on his bed. She followed suit.

___ didn't understand why they couldn't continue the conversation downstairs, but she supposed it had something to do with the younger skeleton.

Without hesitating, Sans pulled up his sweater, revealing his ribcage to her. Behind it, where a human heart would normally lie, was his Soul. Much like Papyrus', it was upside down and pale. Only, Sans' Soul was cracked in multiple places and emitted a dark blue aura of it. At the sight of it, she felt her heart beat quicker.

She gently touched his ribcage, causing Sans to inhale sharply.

"Why is it beating so fast?"

"it's reacting to your Soul."

"Eh?"

She allowed her Soul to form outside of her own chest, holding it in her hands. Sans was right. Her Soul was beating ferociously, too. No wonder she was so flustered. Out of curiosity, she held her Soul out toward his, and it began to mirror.

She felt a surge of warmth when he looked at her. His face became a dark blue, even though he obviously didn't want it to do so. His eyes looked elsewhere, determined to not focus on her. ___ watched as her Soul became pale, cracked, and damaged.

Guilt gnawed at her, suddenly. She could feel how much she mattered to him, even if he didn't show it. Yet, she didn't know him. She barely even liked him.

"Sans..."

He looked at her for a brief second before looking away again.

"if you're gonna say what i think, then save it."

He dropped his sweater, covering up his ribcage now (though it didn't stop the glow emitting from the sweater). ___ felt a little disappointed. She allowed her own to disappear.

"But Sans..."

He went to stand up.

"i really don't want to hear it, it'll make everything worse."

"I just, I don't feel the same way. I barely know you-"

"you don't NEED to feel the same, i couldn't care LESS what you feel about me."

He seemed extremely mad at ___, now. She had barely done anything, and he was shouting. Though, the pinpricks in his eyes didn't disappear, so she wondered if he was mad and not embarrassed instead. His face was bright blue, too. Now that he seemed mad, though, he looked directly at her.

"so, you don't love me? what does that matter? why should YOU matter at all? you're just another human Soul."

For some reason, that hit home. ___ spared no time in shoving the skeleton, knocking him off his own bed. Sans fell onto the floor, rubbing his skull as he glared at her. She huffed.

"I shouldn't have come back with you," she hissed, "I'm going home. I don't need you, Sans. I don't need your friendship, I don't need your protection. Forget I ever existed, because there is no chance in hell that I'd ever love you back. Tell Papyrus goodbye, for me."

She slammed his bedroom door closed behind him. As she ran down the stairs, Papyrus came around to see what the shouting was. Only, ___ brushed right past him. She grabbed her backpack from beside the couch and slung it over her shoulder. The taller skeleton called after her, attempting to grab her shoulder to stop her. She sent him a glare before leaving out the front door, leaving it ajar.

The taller skeleton looked toward his brother's bedroom, where he noticed Sans coming out in a panic. The older skedaddled down the stairs, rushing toward the door, only to be grabbed by Papyrus.

"SANS, WHAT DID YOU DO TO OUR DEAREST FRIEND??"

"i- I fucked up big time, Pap. let me go!"

"WATCH YOUR LANGUAGE!!"

___ could hear them shouting from where she was running. This was her chance, probably her only chance. Though her last outing didn't go too well, she didn't plan to stop anytime soon. She wouldn't until she got to the Barrier. She would break them out, somehow. She wasn't sure how.

But for now, she had to get out.

___ hated the snow. She hated how it crunched under her feet, and how cold it was. She didn't have a jacket. Sans was going to give her his old one but never did. Then again, neither of them planned to get in a fight. She had just wanted to make it clear that she didn't love him. Was that too much? She didn't know him, it should be obvious.

It shouldn't have ended that way.

She pulled the sweater she wore closer to her body, hoping she could get out of Snowdin soon so she wouldn't freeze. At least Waterfall would be warmer than this. She hastily pulled her backpack off to her front, digging her hand into it to hopefully find something to eat. She was starving.

Only, ___ was still sprinting away from Sans' house. She wanted to get away from him as soon as possible. As she dug through her pack, she didn't notice a rogue stone in her pathway. She stumbled, falling harshly into the snow, her backpack breaking her fall. Except, she heard a shattering noise when she fell on it and felt pain in her abdomen.

Shit.

She pulled away from the ground, arms shaking as she did so. She noticed glass shards poking out from her pack.

___ screamed.

"TORIEL!"

She ripped open her backpack, heart stopping at the sight of the shattered jar and dust.

"Oh my God, oh my God."

The wind began to blow the dust particles away, which sent ___ into a panic. She tried to close her bag the best she could, but with the holes in it from the shards, it was impossible.

"This, this was the only person Frisk loved down here and I-"

I just killed her again.

In ___'s panic, she hadn't noticed as her Soul vibrated as she touched the dust. She was trying desperately to keep the dust in one place. This was the only thing she had left from the previous human, and as creepy as it was, it was important. She didn't even realize that she was crying.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

Her Soul began to appear in front of her, hovering over Toriel's dust. ___ didn't notice it at first due to its translucency. After a moment of hovering, it began to reflect a non-existent Soul.

___ looked up, eyes wide. Her Soul flickered red.

The snow seemed to stop as it did so. ___ shivered, watching her own Soul begin to orbit her. The dust that had begun to fly away started to crawl back and the particles that had been washed into the snow did the same. The cold didn't seem to affect her anymore, either.

The dust began to circle her Soul, and she felt her heart stop. ___ was amazed to see dust traveling from who knows where joining the pile that was following her Soul. She was so distracted that she couldn't feel the pain that was creeping through her system. She didn't feel the blood pouring from the cuts on her abdomen. She didn't notice a headache that would normally be crippling.

She didn't know that there was blood streaming from her nose.

Or that she was finding it harder and harder to breathe.

___ couldn't stop watching. She found it physically impossible to look away. The dust continued to swirl around, coming together as a puzzle might. She watched as each piece began to fit into another, forming a body. Feet, legs, hips, body, shoulders, neck, head.

She couldn't stop it.

As the body became complete, it stumbled forward, falling in the snow beside her. ___ finally felt the immense pain. She grabbed her chest, holding it. Her Soul fell to the ground, only stopping right before it touched. It quickly faded away as she did, too.

She fell into the snow as the newly formed figure beside her began to stir. The last thing ___ heard was the gasp beside her.

"My child!"

Warm hands grabbed her shoulders, pulling her head out of the snow. The newly resurrected Monster looked around the area, terrified. She wasn't sure how she got there. The last thing she remembered was standing in the Ruins, fighting Frisk.

Despite that, she pulled ___ into her arms, quickly standing up.

"Hello!" she called, "Is there anyone around?"


	11. Blue

The Monster had no choice but to carry her back to town. ___ had run far, but not far enough. She was still too close to Snowdin for the Monster to carry her elsewhere. The resurrected Monster took care of her, holding her to her chest, keeping ___ safe. After all, she owed the human her life.

"Help!"

The female Monster called, cradling the girl. There were no other Monsters around, but she needed to try. There had to be someone around. Anyone.

"Please! Someone, please help us!"

___ barely moved. If it weren't for the unsteady breathing, the Monster would have assumed she died.

She carried ___ through the snow, eager to find help. None of her magic could help, she already knew that.

There had to be someone around. Anyone.

The Monster – Toriel – knew that Snowdin couldn't have been far. She could see the glowing lights in the distance, but who knew how long it would take her? She wasn't too strong, herself. She felt as if she had just awoken from a long slumber. For all she knew, she did. Toriel held ___ closer, trying to ignore the cold winds. As the two of them neared the town, Toriel noticed that there were many Monsters walking about, almost surprisingly. She knew one of them had to be able to help.

Someone. Anyone.

As she got closer, she noticed two specific Monsters running around, calling a name. The shorter one looked petrified, close to tears. The taller one seemed worried but less so.

"___!"

"HUMAN!!"

Toriel began to pick up her pace, hoping that they were referring to the young woman in her arms. She began to call for the Monsters but was still too far out of range for them to hear.

Toriel began to struggle, her strength failing her. She stumbled in the snow, but still didn't drop ___. She tried her best to stand again but found it too difficult. Despite her lack of strength, she didn't let the girl touch the snow. Apparently, the two Monsters that were searching had seen her stumble. The shorter one was the first over and seemed quite surprised at what he saw.

He barely even noticed Toriel. His focus was completely on ___. He bent over to the two, grabbing the (h/c)-haired girl's face, trying to get her attention. She didn't move, no matter what he did. He began to shake, eyes dark. Sans spared no time in taking her from Toriel's arms, holding her head against his ribcage. He felt his Soul aching at the sight of her.

"___?"

He gently touched her face, again. She seemed to be barely breathing, too. Sans inhaled deeply, trying not to panic.

Papyrus joined the small group soon after. He seemed more shocked to see the woman there, rather than ___ passed out. He sent her a strange look, offering his hand to help her up. She graciously took it, standing to her feet and looking over at the human girl.

Papyrus touched his brother's shoulder, trying to comfort him.

"Papyrus- what should i do?"

Sans looked up at him, tears beginning to form in his eye sockets. The younger skeleton was surprised at his brother's reaction. He had assumed they didn't get along, at all.

"Sans, Sans, calm down," Papyrus urged, "The Great Papyrus will CERTAINLY heal the human up! BUT, WE MUST GET HER INSIDE!! IT IS FREEZING OUT HERE!!"

Sans stood up from the ground, trying his best to keep his hold on ___. It was difficult, seeing that they were roughly the same height. Still, he managed to hold her close. He had carried her before, and further. Even in past timelines, he had given her piggyback rides. He could do it, he knew he could. She wasn't even heavy.

Papyrus hovered as the four of them began to head toward Snowdin once again. The town was only a little bit away, less than five minutes. Sans kept looking from the town down to ___'s unresponsive face. Occasionally, he'd give her a small shake, trying to rouse her senses, but to no avail.

Once back into town and safely inside the skeleton brothers' house, Sans placed ___ on the couch. He checked for a pulse, first. While she was inactive, her heartbeat was steady but weak. She didn't move.

Toriel and Papyrus stood nervously by the side, waiting for Sans to say something. The older skeleton was too busy checking ___ out. He searched for wounds in her head that might have caused her comatose state. Nothing. She only had scratched on her abdomen, and not even deep enough to elicit any sort of shock in her nervous system. He gently touched her face again, rubbing her cheek with his thumb.

Out of curiosity, he pulled her Soul out. As he held it in his hands, he expected it to react in any sort of way. Only, it didn't. It floated there, dead-like. Sans had seen human Souls only act like this after their host was dead. He had seen this before with the Fallen humans from before. This was exactly how they acted in the canisters that Asgore had kept them in.

He brought it closer to his chest, hoping that it would remember his. ___'s Soul had reacted to his before. The familiarity wouldn't fade away, even after timelines, their Souls proved it. But. What if her Soul was dead?

It didn't move.

"Sans, I think-"

She's dead.

Papyrus couldn't finish his sentence. The goat woman beside him shuddered. She knew what he was going to say, too.

"she's not dead."

Sans allowed her Soul to hover over her body again. It didn't look the same as what it once did. Instead, it looked like a Monster Soul. It couldn't have even been hers. As he stared at it, he realized something. He looked at the two other Monsters, a sharp look on his face.

"i have an idea, just, make sure she doesn't die while i'm gone, ok?"

Toriel nodded, crossing her arms around her waist as she did so. Sans let out a sigh, disappearing into thin air as he did so. Papyrus trotted over to ___, sitting beside her body on the couch. He went to touch her face with his finger but paused as he did so.

Her eyes opened.

They glowed red.

"___!"

Papyrus grabbed her shoulders, but her eyes didn't move to look at him. Instead, they stared directly at her Soul. It began to sink back toward her chest, slowly, surrounded by a purple aura. Both Toriel and Papyrus looked on in surprise. As her Soul neared her chest, her eyes slowly closed. For some reason, Papyrus thought that it would be bad. He quickly used blue magic to stop the Soul.

___ turned her head to look at him, emotionless. She opened her mouth to speak, only to be interrupted by a loud cracking sound. Sans stumbled his landing, nearly falling. In his left hand, he held a syringe, filled with a metallic substance. He noticed the situation between Papyrus and ___.

His eye sockets widened.

"___, are you okay?"

She looked at him, a malicious grin crossing her face.

"Oh, hello, Sansy. Nice to see you here. I thought Frisk would have killed you all."

The voice didn't belong to ___. It was too masculine. Sans' eye sockets darkened at the new sound. Toriel, however, seemed genuinely surprised. She reached out toward ___, eyes watering at her voice.

"My darling child, is that you?"

___'s eyes moved toward the goat monster, sparkling with something Sans couldn't read. The skeleton reached his arm out to block Toriel, glaring at ___.

"lady Toriel, i don't think that's a good idea."

"Why not?"

Sans approached the couch, holding the syringe tightly. As he stopped in front of ___, he noticed her different eye color, too. He gritted his teeth.

"you really think you'll be able to latch on here, kid?"

He reached out, grabbing on to ___'s Soul without a second thought. She flinched, a red color filling her cheeks. Sans spared no time stabbing the Soul in front of him with the syringe, injecting whatever substance was in it. She sank into the couch further, eyes closing, and the grin settling.

"I guess not."

Once she said that her Soul shuddered. It reverted to what it once looked like before. The reflective palette reappeared, the pale purple glint returning. Sans let out a sigh of relief, placing the syringe on the couch between them. He wrapped his arms around her torso, closing his eye sockets as he pulled her close.

"Sans? What did you do to her?"

Papyrus nervously looked at the syringe. Sans gently picked her up, cradling her against him. He could feel his Soul beating furiously in his chest. He, too, was pissed. He didn't know what happened to her, but he wasn't sure he wanted to find out, either. Sans knew that if he found out what had caused her comatose state, he would do anything to destroy it.

He unconsciously pet her hair.

"she'll be fine," he told himself more than his brother, "it was just something that Alphys used to experiment with. she'll be fine, i'm sure."

Sans carried her toward the staircase, trying his best to calm down. He was terrified for a second. He hated how attached he was to her, already. He blamed the past timelines, but it didn't make him feel any better. Sans wished that he'd forget, too. She did, so why couldn't he? It'd make this timeline easier.

Sans hauled ___ up the stairs, careful to not trip. More than once he had tripped on the stairs. He wasn't sure if it was due to laziness or just generally not caring for his own safety. Either way, he couldn't drop her now, that would be bad.

But, it did remind him of how they met.

Sans shook his head, trying to clear it of thoughts like that. He wanted to get her to bed as soon as possible. He adjusted his hold on her as he pushed his bedroom door open. He had a déjà vu moment at that. Sans shook his head. ___ ran out of the house too often for him to find it amusing anymore. He was tired of her antics.

Maybe he should just be nicer.

He sighed, placing her down on his mattress, pulling a blanket up over her. Sans sat beside her, gently touching his skull.

The injection had been the right thing to do, he knew that. But, who knew what the side effects would be? Alphys hadn't tested it on humans before. Then again, Frisk killed her before she could.

He laid down beside her, staring up at the ceiling.

Was the injection going to make it worse?

What if she forgot everything?

She would be so lost.

Sans didn't know if he could handle ___ with no memories at all. It was bad enough she couldn't remember him from the previous timeline.

He leaned his cheekbone against her head, closing his eye sockets.

It wouldn't hurt to sleep a little. She probably wouldn't wake up for a while. A dose of perseverance mixed with determination could take hours to work. If it did at all. Sans shivered at the thought of what the old DT formula.

She wouldn't melt like all those Fallen Monsters did.

Her body was made of actual matter.

Still.

That thought wasn't very comforting. Sans didn't know what he'd do if she became an amalgamate like all those hidden away in the True Lab.

He weaved his phalanges around her fingers, bringing her hand up to his mouth as if he were to kiss it. He simply rested it on his face, though, enjoying the warmth of her flesh. It really had been a while since he had touched her like this.

Sans didn't realize he was drifting off to sleep until it was too late.

He just hoped she didn't wake up before him.

Sans did not expect to wake up to someone curling up against his ribcage. If anything, he expected to be smacked or pushed out of his own bed. He let out a low groan, rubbing his left eye socket as he did so. He wondered the time. It felt too early to be awake, especially after the stressful day he had before. His lazily opened his eye sockets, looking around the room with his hazy eyes. It was darker than he was expecting. It had to be close to three or four in the morning. Papyrus must have gone to sleep hours ago. Not even the hall light was on anymore.

He adjusted his position a little, wrapping his arm around the figure beside him. As he did so, ___ stirred. She moaned slightly as she opened her eyes to look up at the skeleton. She did not seem confused by her whereabouts, but rather disappointed.

She sat up, quickly, much to Sans' dismay.

"Oh God, did I fall asleep in the middle of it?"

When Sans did not reply, she looked at him, a panicked expression written across her face. He seemed just as confused as she was, just not as panicky. He covered his sockets with his arm, not sure what he had woken up to.

"Blueee," she whined, "Please tell me I lasted through the whole movie."

Now, Sans sat up. His eye sockets were wide in surprise. She had never called him "Blue," before. At least, not in this timeline. ___ moved to pull the blanket off from her, only for Sans to grab her arms to stop her. She sent him a questioning look, biting her lip as she did so.

"C'mon, Blue," she said, "You're not mad at me, are you? I didn't mean to fall asleep. Aw man, I was really looking forward to it, too."

Sans let out a sigh, "i have no idea what you're talking about, sweetheart."

Her expression changed from confused to annoyed. She gently pushed his face, chuckling as she did so. Sans only became more confused.

"Y'know, the movie! We've been planning on seeing it all week," she shook her head, "I know your memory is bad, but it can't be that bad. We were just sitting in the movie theatre, Sans. Why'd you let me fall asleep?"

His eye sockets darkened as he realized what was going on. He rubbed the back of his skull as ___ accused him of letting her fall asleep. She gently touched his arm, noticing how his face had changed.

"Blue? You know I'm only joking with ya, right?"

She seemed genuinely worried about him. His Soul wrenched at the sound of her voice. He looked up at her, his white pinpricks returning. Sans grinned, too, trying to hide away his pain. ___ did not seem to believe him, though.

She frowned at him, leaning her forehead against his.

"You can tell me anything, Blue," she whispered, "Don't hide what you're thinking. You mean a lot to me, so please be honest. Did I upset you?"

Sans hesitated before grabbing the sides of her face, holding her still. He looked up into her (e/c) eyes, feeling his face grow warm. While this situation was hurtful, it was blissful as well. It was as if nothing had ever changed. As if the timeline never Reset.

"i'm not sure what to say, kid."

"Kid?"

He flinched. Sans had never referred to ___ as 'kid' before she Fell down. He let out a shaky laugh, trying not to get more upset.

Of course, he thought to himself, of course, her Soul would remember just fine. This isn't really her.

"sweetheart," he gently stroked her cheek, "the kid, Frisk, they Reset the timeline while we were at the theatre. we- i was going to tell you that i loved you, and then they just-"

___ did not reply to him. Instead, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, pulling his face against her chest and rested her chin on his skull. Sans let out a sob, allowing her to hold him like so. He had been trying hard not to cry, but she always brought the truth out of him, no matter what it was.

"I'm sorry that Frisk did that, Blue," she rubbed his skull, "You were so scared that she was going to take away your happy ending. I guess she did. I'm sorry. I guess that means, I don't remember, huh?"

Sans' fingers dug into her sweater as he held on to her tighter. ___ let out a small sigh, gently kissing his skull.

"Y'know, I would've told you that I loved you too," she added, "I, I really love you, Sans. Even if Frisk Reset, I don't think my love would go away. Souls remember you know that. Human Souls always remember."

Sans pulled his face away from her chest, resting his cheekbone on her shoulder. He sniffled slightly.

"but you don't remember," he said, "you don't like me, at all in this timeline. i did a lot of bad things to ya, and you just won't forgive me."

She pulled away from him, a frown on her pretty face.

"Give me time, Sans."

___ kissed his head again, pulling his blanket up and around his shoulders. Sans watched as she leaned against his bedroom wall, eyes hardening as she did so. He wiped his eyes, trying to make it seem like he had not been crying.

"you won't stay, huh?"

The (h/c)-haired girl shook her head, frowning slightly.

"It's not in my place to stay. This isn't the timeline where you fell in love with me, Blue," she admitted, "You have to fall in love with this timeline's me. But, judging by how I'm in your bed, you must like her, already. At least a little."

Sans chuckled, "she is you."

"You make sure to give her, to give me, time to fall in love with you, too, Blue."

He nodded. Sans propped himself against the wall she rested against, gently touching her. ___ gently rubbed her eye, feeling the heaviness of sleep. He grinned at her cuteness but felt a tinge of fear.

"I'm falling asleep, Blue."

His eye sockets widened at that.

"no, no, no," he nearly shouted, "please don't leave."

___ let out a sigh at his request, leaning her head back. She stared up at the ceiling, guilt eating at her.

"I'll try my hardest," she murmured, "Why don't you tell me about this timeline?"

Sans pulled his knees to his chest, letting out a sigh like she had moments before. He did not want to really talk about the timeline, but he would do anything to keep her – the ___ that knew and loved him – here longer.

"well, where do i start?"

___ shrugged, "At the beginning, maybe?"

"Frisk fell down about two and a half years ago, i guess," Sans started, "they never intended on freeing us this time, i guess. they killed everyone in the Ruins, i've checked. i found their journal there, too. you actually have it, somewhere."

___ was looking at him, closely.

"they, the kid, they killed a few people in Snowdin forest, too," he looked away from her, "almost killed Papyrus. i don't know why they spared him, but i'm not sure what would have happened if they didn't. i probably would've killed 'em."

He did not notice her nodding off at the sound of his soothing voice.

"Frisk killed Undyne and Alphys, and most of the folk in Waterfall and Hotland. the king's dead, too. they- they released the human Souls, and now we're stuck down here."

___ shook her head, trying to stay awake.

"But, that's not true, huh? You've killed some humans, haven't you?"

Sans was not sure how she knew that, but he supposed it had something to do with his Soul.

"yeah. i killed a few kids. nearly killed you too."

___ did not linger on that statement.

"So, two and a half years? I guess that means we would have met about two years ago in this timeline. Do you think we'd be together, Blue?"

Sans hesitated.

"i'm almost positive we'd still be together, yeah."

___ chuckled, closing her eyes.

"for a while, i debated absorbing a human Soul to get through the barrier and drag Frisk back down here," Sans admitted, "i thought about killing more humans to free everyone. but, i couldn't bring myself too. i was too scared of coming off as a monster to you. i just know that you would've seen me someway or another. i don't want you to hate me. ___?"

At some point during his last few words, ___ had dozed off. Her head was gently slumped against her shoulder, and she was fast asleep. Sans let out a lonely sigh, weaving his phalanges in with her fingers once again. He laid his head against her shoulder, closing his eye sockets.

He knew it was too good to be true.

Even though it felt so long ago, Sans could remember their time together. He could remember that whole timeline, it was the best. It hurt the most, too.

That week, Sans and ___ had been planning to see some kid's movie that premiered the week before. Neither of them expected much out of the movie, but it wasn't often they hung out together outside of a studying environment.

They had the same biology class together. ___ knew that Sans existed, but he had never acknowledged her. To him, she looked just like any of the other humans. Flesh. Hair. Nose. If he had not nearly killed himself tripping on the cement stairs outside their school, he never would have met her. ___ had been right behind him on that staircase and had caught him as he slipped.

Though, she had fallen because of it.

She had grabbed the back of his hoodie and pulled him backward, knocking him toward the staircase rather than away. But, with the force she used, she had thrown herself forward. Sans had been so surprised that he simply watched her nearly faceplant into the sidewalk at the bottom of the stairs. She had injured herself to stop him from hurting himself.

He remembered all the blood.

Sans felt bad just thinking about it. ___ had scraped her arms and injured her nose from the force of the fall. Still, as he helped her up, she had been so kind. She did not blame him for her pain. Instead, she apologized for pulling him so hard backward.

Until then, Sans had thought all humans hated Monsters, and would rather they all go back to the Underground. She had been the first to treat him as an equal. He took her home to Papyrus, so he could heal her. He remembered how surprised ___ had been when meeting another Monster.

From the beginning, he liked her.

She offered to help him in biology, too. Though Sans had a knack for most sciences, he could not wrap his mind around human biology. Her help was needed.

So, they had hung out more. She ate dinner there, spent some nights there. ___ had called him drunk a few times, too. They had become friends.

Sans introduced her to all his friends. She got along really well with Undyne, even though they were polar opposites. She enjoyed talking about anime with Alphys. Mettaton loved to pamper her. Toriel and Asgore were glad to see that Sans was happy for once.

The only one that did not really like her very much was Frisk. The ambassador had always told the Monsters to be careful with humans, as there were a lot of anti-Monster regime supporters hidden among the population. ___ did not seem like one of those. Sans did not know why so many of their friends believed Frisk, either. The child had shown to be untrustworthy so many times.

___ had never been anything but sweet and caring. Still, Undyne stopped calling ___. Alphys avoided her. Mettaton spoke ill of her to his fans. Toriel advised Sans to stop talking to her. Even Papyrus had been exceedingly suspicious of her. He stopped inviting her to stay over at the house. He stopped offering her dinner. She stopped coming around.

So, Sans went over to her house. He became close to her, ignoring the demands from Frisk. The only murderer there was the kid. ___ had been nothing but patient and loving toward Monsters. They should have noticed that.

The two became best friends easily. Sans basically moved in and lived on ___'s couch. They were near inseparable.

But, he found out about her research into human Souls. They had gotten into a big fight over it. Sans even thought that Frisk might have been right about ___ all along. He still felt stupid over it.

The only way she had been able to calm him down was to show him the inkings on her arm and let him read her research notes. All she had been doing was medical research for the human Soul.

Things went back to normal. Still, what Sans felt for her – it could not have been just friendship.

Eventually, he asked her to see that shitty movie.

And then, Frisk Reset.

**Author's Note:**

> Makes sure to follow my Tumblr!!  
> I post art and answer questions on there. :3  
> https://under-let-me-tell-you-a-story.tumblr.com/


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